Luvo Gugwana is pursuing sustainable ways of farming
Luvo Gugwana and his Aquaponics Project are introducing sustainable ways of farming that the vast majority of farmers are able to emulate. Born in the Eastern Cape, he moved to Durban to do a degree in Medical Orthotics and Prosthetics at the Durban University of Technology. During his studies, he was introduced to entrepreneurship and started his company Green Ark Innovations that deals with aquaponics concepts. The goal of the company is to introduce farming that is environmentally sustainable and meets the demands of a rising population.
Luvo’s initial interest was in social development, however, after being introduced to entrepreneurship at University and discovering social entrepreneurship he saw that this was a way of developing communities and society as a whole. He was introduced to aquaponics in 2017 and researched the field further as there are few aquaponics farmers in South Africa. What stood out to him were the differences and benefits over conventional farming. With support from Ford, he was able to develop a concept and be convinced that this is a sustainable approach to farming that can work. Apart from the pilot site, the project also has two sites around KwaZulu-Natal where they want to initiate the project and the project is also receiving inquiries from municipalities to create commercial-sized sites.
Luvo Gugwana and his Aquaponics Project are introducing sustainable ways of farming that the vast majority of farmers are able to emulate. Born in the Eastern Cape, he moved to Durban to do a degree in Medical Orthotics and Prosthetics at the Durban University of Technology. During his studies, he was introduced to entrepreneurship and started his company Green Ark Innovations that deals with aquaponics concepts. The goal of the company is to introduce farming that is environmentally sustainable and meets the demands of a rising population.
Luvo’s initial interest was in social development, however, after being introduced to entrepreneurship at University and discovering social entrepreneurship he saw that this was a way of developing communities and society as a whole. He was introduced to aquaponics in 2017 and researched the field further as there are few aquaponics farmers in South Africa. What stood out to him were the differences and benefits over conventional farming. With support from Ford, he was able to develop a concept and be convinced that this is a sustainable approach to farming that can work. Apart from the pilot site, the project also has two sites around KwaZulu-Natal where they want to initiate the project and the project is also receiving inquiries from municipalities to create commercial-sized sites.
Photo by Mpumelelo Macu
The project faces challenges such as being labour and cost intensive, with the erection of the structure as well as components for the system requiring a significant outlay of capital. Management of the project also requires technical expertise which means not everyone can manage the system, something which makes empowering communities in which they set up the systems difficult.
Photo by Mpumelelo Macu
Luvo is drawn to social entrepreneurship because it impacts a lot of people on a socio-economic level. By working in the social entrepreneurship space he is able to create something that can help underdeveloped communities and partner with cooperatives in order to empower those communities. The project has also opened up research in partnership with the University of KwaZulu-Natal where aspects of aquaponics such as fish growth, water manipulation, pH, fish life-spans and crop growth speed are studied, the results of which will be used to compare aquaponics to conventional farming. The aim is to bridge the gap between aquaponics and conventional farming, overcome the cost barrier and bring the project to provinces around the country, as well as bring it into the school curriculum so that students can be trained in this new sustainable way of farming.
Photo by Mpumelelo Macu
Luvo is driven by a passion for community development and he loves seeing people’s lives change for the better. He wants to give back to communities by empowering them with knowledge as well as economically. He is looking to collaborate with fellow social entrepreneurs at the Amaphiko academy to better solve social problems and take his project to the next level, gaining new ideas from them. He also hopes to improve his business and marketing skills to better promote his project.
This article first appeared on Red BUll.