AQUAPONICS CERTIFICATION
Aquaponics is a sustainable way to grow nutritious crops [fruits and vegetables] and raise edible fish at the same time. This system implements a symbiotic relationship between plants and fish.
Crop cultivation system in aquaponic uses soil less method of farming since crop nutrition origin from excrement of fish cultivation. Waste from marine animals used as source of nutrition for plants.
Aquaponic production can produce food in a sustainable way without the use of man-made nutrients (synthetic fertilizers), the use of pesticides, growth hormones and antibiotics in fish and plant cultivation.
Aquaponics certification is necessary for giving consumers with confidence that the plants produced from the aquaponics system are meet the requirements of ICERT Aquaponics Production System.
If the producers have been aquaponic certified, then they have right to use ICERT Aquaponic logo on the packaging of products and other promotion materials.
Currently ICERT has been accredited by KAN to provide aquaponics certification.
General requirements:
A. Management requirement.
Management has sufficient resources to run aquaponics production.
B. Resources and production requirement
- Water circulation in aquaponics is designed to take advantage of gravity, and minimizes the number of pumps and energy required to circulate the water. This system pays attention to aeration, gas removal, filtration and removal of solid waste from fish farming.Growth media or root support using materials permitted in the standard.
- Water sources in aquaponics production meet the requirements of clean water and heavy metal content.
- Regular monitoring of various indicators of water temperature, pH, levels of ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, and dissolved oxygen
- Adjusting the pH content of the water, can use synthetic materials that comply with the standards in small amounts to adjust the pH of the water.
- Have plans and actions in place to decrease waste, reclaim nutrients, and reuse or recycle materials where possible.
- Plant Production Management in accordance with SNI 6729:2016.
- Fisheries Management
- Using non prohibited fish species;
- prohibited to use fish feed containing antibiotics, hormones, GMOs, human or other animal waste;
- the use of additional feed such as duckweed, azola can be used if it comes from aquaculture not from polluted waters, black army fly larvae or Manggot [Hermetia illucens] can be used if it is cultivated from composting organic materials without containing heavy metals.
- Fish health by ensuring stable environmental conditions and biosecurity practices, quarantine and treating sick fish with a separate system if necessary.
- Ensure that aquaponic production activities are protected from potential sources of contamination [documented risk management].
- Have a plan to use energy more efficiently, and/or add or replace it with renewable energy.
Aquaponics certification is given for the scope of food plant products produced from aquaponics production systems. The fish production itself cannot be certified organic according to this standard, because fish production is a part of the production unit of the aquaponics system.