According to the agricultural history of the Coquimbo region, there was an 82 percent increase in horticultural area between 1976 and 1997. This increase in horticultural production has suffered a significant setback due to its hyper-aridity, which has had a negative impact on the sustainability of agricultural production under conventional cultivation methods in recent years. Because freshwater resources are scarce, there are no continental commercial developments on the scale that have been developed in southern Chile in the aquaculture freshwater scenario.
Aquaculture activity does not consume water, but rather temporarily uses it and returns it to the environment, creating a scenario that allows aquaculture to be integrated with agriculture. Aquaculture activity should be integrated with agriculture in such a way that water can first be used in aquaculture and then channeled for agricultural use. In terms of biomass produced per unit of water used, the integration of aquaculture and agriculture increases the productive efficiency of water resource use. Water recirculation technologies can increase the productive efficiency of water even further in aquaculture and agriculture.
Rainbow trout, lettuce, and basil are grown in an aquaponic system in Valle del Elqui. The fish rearing system consists of eight 25m3 tanks. The hydroponic component has eight 16 m3 raceways (27 m length x 2 m width x 0.33 m depth). A local river prawn was also tested for biointegration within the vegetable raceways. Prototype systems have been installed at five Technological Agricultural Schools. These systems could include up to six 1 m3 fish tanks and up to six 1 m3 hydroponics raceways .
Aquaponics systems can produce rainbow trout and a variety of vegetables all year. More research is being conducted on river prawn biointegration.