The low cost of setting up an aquaponics farm and the minimal amount of water required for it to thrive makes it ideal for Oman to use as the Sultanate looks to achieve food security.

That’s the opinion of Murray Hallam, who’s been widely hailed as the godfather of commercial aquaponics. One of Hallam’s students is Arvind Venkataraman, who is project engineer for Al Arfan Farms, Oman’s first aquaponics farm that has been built on a one-acre plot of land in Seeb. As the founder of Water Farmers Aquaponics, he has set up more than 15 farms worldwide.

“As soon as I saw this working, I believed it was the food production system for the future, and I still believe it has the scale to solve the world’s food problems,” explained Hallam. “If we were to take Oman as an example, this country imports a lot of its food and it is scary that it doesn’t grow enough food, so it is a perfect fit for it.