Being a desert, Bahrain faces land and water scarcity which is problematic to its food market because it limits its agricultural production. As such, in order to achieve a more sustainable desert agriculture that will develop and maintain food security, aquaponics has become an integral part of Bahrain’s food economy because it:

• Limits water wastage by 90%, which is highly beneficial for Bahrain given that its desert environment already means that the land’s water supply is generally low
• Increases food security because aquaponic systems are less susceptible to fail in drier growing conditions through environmental regulations which enable multi-seasonal production of food that can withstand droughts, extreme heat and desert lands
• Eliminates weeds and thus, increases crop productivity
• Multi-purpose system that embeds both plant and fish production into one process, cutting down on production costs

Examples of Aquaponic Farms in Bahrain

Bahrain Line Aquaponic Centre is an example of a farm that works with aquaponics. It created a system, designed in 2014, that aimed to improve the market supply and set a benchmark for freshwater fish in the region, allowing Bahrain’s food market to take advantage of the multi-purposeful closed ecosystem that aquaponics creates.