Towards sustainable food production systems in Qatar: Assessment of the viability of aquaponics

Abusin, Sana; Mandikiana, Brian W.

doi:10.1016/j.gfs.2020.100349

Cited by 53 publications

(35 citation statements)

References 36 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…However, they do not necessarily require soil, but they can be grown by using soil-free substrates and water or can be combined with aquaculture (i.e. aquaponics) [96]. In our study, emissions from the use of inorganic fertilizers and pesticides in the production of conventional vegetables averaged 0.12 Kg CO2-eq Kg product -1 ( Figure 6).…”

Section: B) Plant-based Dietsmentioning

confidence: 72%

Can a Shift to Regional and Organic Diets Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions from the Food System? A Case Study from Qatar

Vicente-Vicente

Piorr

2020

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

BackgroundQatar is one of the countries with the highest carbon (C) footprints per capita in the world with an increasing population and food demand. Furthermore, the international blockade by some countries that is affecting Qatar – which has been traditionally a highly-dependent country on food imports – since 2017 has led the authorities to take the decision of increasing food self-sufficiency. In this study we have assessed the effect on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of shifting diets from conventional to organic products and from import-based diets to more regionalized diets for the first time in a Gulf country.ResultsWe found that considering the production system, the majority of the emissions come from the animal products, but the differences between conventional and organic diets are very small (738 and 722 Kg CO2-eq capita-1 yr-1, of total emissions, respectively). Conversely, total emissions from plant-based products consumption are one order of magnitude smaller, but the differences in the emissions between the two systems were higher, leading to a decrease in 88 Kg CO2-eq capita-1 yr-1 when changing from conventional to organic consumption. Regarding the change to 100% regionalized diets, we found that packaging has a small influence on the total amount of GHG emissions, whereas emissions from transportation would be reduced in 780Kg CO2 capita-1 yr-1 for the business as usual scenario of 2015.ConclusionsDue to the extreme adverse pedoclimatic conditions of the country, commercial organic regional livestock would not be possible without emitting very high GHG emissions and just only some traditional livestock species could be farmed in a climate-friendly way. On the other hand, organic and regional low-CO2 emission systems of plant-based products would be possible by implementing innovations in irrigation or other innovations whose GHG emissions must be further studied in the future. Therefore, we conclude that shifting towards more plant-based organic regional products consumption by using climate-friendly irrigation innovations in combination with a decrease in the total meat and dairy consumption and a shift to traditional livestock species farming is a suitable solution to both increasing self-sufficiency and reducing C footprint.

show abstract

Section: B) Plant-based Dietsmentioning

confidence: 72%

Can a Shift to Regional and Organic Diets Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions from the Food System? A Case Study from Qatar

Vicente-Vicente

Piorr

2020

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Considering that food comes from the use of natural, and often common, resources such as water and soil, and having food is considered a right in the modern world [52,53], the sustainable production [54][55][56] and consumption [57,58] of food have become pressing problems in order to reach sustainable development. As with any other problem that affects the future of humanity, the change of patterns for both production and consumption of food have strong policy implications, either at the global level, with more general recommendations such as the Sustainable Development Goals [14] or at the regional level, with more applied actions [59].…”

Section: Theoretical Backgroundmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Public policies that aim towards obtaining sustainable food systems [60] are theoretically designed for all stakeholders involved, considering their possible level of contribution [59]. Therefore, there are specific policies who address food production and distribution so to determine these sectors to become more sustainable [61] through alternative production systems [56], new inputs [62], using biofuels [63], waste reduction through the circular economy [64] or reducing the resource consumption [65]. Other policies aim at the individual consumer, a fact that is justified considering the need to feed a growing number of people [66].…”

Section: Theoretical Backgroundmentioning

confidence: 99%

Influencing Factors of a Sustainable Vegetable Choice. The Romanian Consumers’ Case

Lădaru

Ilie²,

Diaconeasa

et al. 2020

Sustainability

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The behavior of vegetable consumption in the context of sustainable development has become a point of interest. Determining the barriers and the drivers for developing a sustainable consumption pattern, including food, should be a priority for every nation, as so to be able to design targeted food policies that would contribute to this development. Reducing the pressure on resources by diminishing meat consumption and increasing vegetable consumption is one of the global directions that should be followed. The situation of the current status of vegetable consumption in Romania is, therefore, important. Through an empirical quantitative analysis, the vegetable consumption pattern of Romanian consumers is presented. The results show that the respondents lack proper environmental education and concern, but unconsciously are aware of sustainability criteria such as choosing local and seasonal vegetables, choosing according to the freshness of the vegetables, and wasting little of these purchases. The main barriers determined in developing more sustainable vegetable choices in the case of Romanian consumers are income and time availability restrictions. It is also important to have the ability to identify the local, seasonal, and organic vegetables through specific labels, and to provide the local producers with the ability to sell their products in supermarkets, at fair prices. These would be the main drivers for developing a sustainable vegetable choice. Adding to that, an awareness campaign at the national level regarding the importance of individual choice would contribute to educating towards a sustainable purchasing pattern.

show abstract

“…The new direction of the works proposed in these ML related articles are interesting and demand further investigation with our proposed system once a large amount data is collected through the IoT system. Recently a study has been reported the promising prospect of aquaponics for the sustainable food security solution for Qatar [ 35 ]. However, there is no technical details of such a solution was provided in the work to achieve a sustainable food security solution which was a major motivation for this study.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Design, Construction and Testing of IoT Based Automated Indoor Vertical Hydroponics Farming Test-Bed in Qatar

Chowdhury

Khandakar

Ahmed

et al. 2020

Sensors

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Growing plants in the gulf region can be challenging as it is mostly desert, and the climate is dry. A few species of plants have the capability to grow in such a climate. However, those plants are not suitable as a food source. The aim of this work is to design and construct an indoor automatic vertical hydroponic system that does not depend on the outside climate. The designed system is capable to grow common type of crops that can be used as a food source inside homes without the need of large space. The design of the system was made after studying different types of vertical hydroponic systems in terms of price, power consumption and suitability to be built as an indoor automated system. A microcontroller was working as a brain of the system, which communicates with different types of sensors to control all the system parameters and to minimize the human intervention. An open internet of things (IoT) platform was used to store and display the system parameters and graphical interface for remote access. The designed system is capable of maintaining healthy growing parameters for the plants with minimal input from the user. The functionality of the overall system was confirmed by evaluating the response from individual system components and monitoring them in the IoT platform. The system was consuming 120.59 and 230.59 kWh respectively without and with air conditioning control during peak summer, which is equivalent to the system running cost of 13.26 and 25.36 Qatari Riyal (QAR) respectively. This system was circulating around 104 k gallons of nutrient solution monthly however, only 8–10 L water was consumed by the system. This system offers real-time notifications to alert the hydroponic system user when the conditions are not favorable. So, the user can monitor several parameters without using laboratory instruments, which will allow to control the entire system remotely. Moreover, the system also provides a wide range of information, which could be essential for plant researchers and provides a greater understanding of how the key parameters of hydroponic system correlate with plant growth. The proposed platform can be used both for quantitatively optimizing the setup of the indoor farming and for automating some of the most labor-intensive maintenance activities. Moreover, such a monitoring system can also potentially be used for high-level decision making, once enough data will be collected. This work presents significant opportunities for the people who live in the gulf region to produce food as per their requirements.

show abstract

Towards sustainable food production systems in Qatar: Assessment of the viability of aquaponics

Cited by 53 publications

References 36 publications

Can a Shift to Regional and Organic Diets Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions from the Food System? A Case Study from Qatar

Can a Shift to Regional and Organic Diets Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions from the Food System? A Case Study from Qatar

Influencing Factors of a Sustainable Vegetable Choice. The Romanian Consumers’ Case

Design, Construction and Testing of IoT Based Automated Indoor Vertical Hydroponics Farming Test-Bed in Qatar

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About