Aquaculture is defined as the farming of aquatic plants and animals. It is an industry that has been growing worldwide and is now the fastest food production sector in the world. According to the World Aquaculture 2020, A brief overview by Bartley, D.M, aquaculture accounts for over 50% of the seafood consumed globally. Despite worldwide trends, aquaculture in the Caribbean has declined over the last 30 years. Most of the Caribbean islands are classified as SIDS (Small islands development states) and they have unique challenges when compared to Latin American countries. They have limited expertise, high production costs, poor supplies, poor access to feed and equipment and a high frequency of destructive weather events.
Despite being a small region with similar problems there has been limited success with Aquaculture associations and the sharing of data regionally. However, in the last 10 years there has been a noticeable increase in Aquaponics and there are several successful small-scale aquaponics farms throughout the region. One hypothesis is that the success of these farms is directly related to the establishment of an Aquaponics Demonstration Farm in Barbados in 2017, which has led to the creation of a network of farmer who share data and knowledge that has now resulted in the Caribbean Aquaproducers Association in 2024. The demonstration farm was grant funded by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) for $40, 000 USD with the goal of promoting training and education in aquaponics which would result in the establishment of farms in the region.
This study will test this hypothesis and will look directly at the impact of the demonstration farm and subsequent association in the region. This study will look to test this hypothesis by comparing data from 9 Caribbean countries that are now members of the association: Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, St Kitts & Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Antigua & Barbuda, Grenada, Anguilla and Tortola. Data will be gathered from aquaculture and aquaponics farmers, both successful and unsuccessful, that have operated in the last 10 years. Analysis will be done in three keys beneficial areas, social, environmental and economic benefits, and whether farmers got these benefits from being affiliated with the demo farm or association, or if these benefits were obtained from other sources. For farms that have failed, there will also be an analysis of what factors contributed to their failure. The emphasis of the study will be on presenting data to show the real-time impact of the demonstration farm and subsequent association. The results gathered will be used to rate the success of the demonstration farm in meeting its intended goals in terms of farmers trained, and farms assisted or created. This study will allow the region to determine if the demonstration farm and regional association is in fact the reason for the current success in Aquaponics, and will help to strengthen the association regionally, and determine if more demonstration farms need to be established in other islands.