SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE FOR LIMA, PERU

In 2015, Phillip Thompson met with Father Jose Chuquillanqui Yamamoto in Lima, Peru, to discuss access to safe water for the community of Manchay. The discussion quickly moved to the topic of aquaponics, which is a symbiotic system where water from fish tanks is used to provide nutrients to plants. It is also a sustainable process that uses 10 times less water than traditional agriculture, which is an important feature for this coastal desert region that receives less than one inch of rainfall per year. Fr. Chuquillanqui enthusiastically supported the idea for a project where Seattle University students would work with students from a local technical school, Instituto Superior Tecnológico Trentino Juan Pablo II.

The student teams built a vermicomposting system that upcycled compost to worms that could be used for fish food. They also installed a solar array to power air pumps and sensors for pH, temperature and dissolved oxygen that delivered real-time data to the web. Within two years, the system was able to produce 9,600 heads of lettuce and 400 tilapia per year, resulting in a net value of approximately $4000, for the school. Today, CEJS is helping support the Peruvian team as they seek to build a full-scale aquaponics system in their hometown of Jaén, Peru.