Indonesia is an agricultural country where most of the population has a livelihood in farming, this is also supported by the geographical and topographical conditions of Indonesia which are very suitable for agriculture and fisheries.
However, currently, productive agricultural land has changed its function to settlements, including land for fish rearing and rice fields/plantations. This is due to the increasing population growth which causes the need for land for settlement to increase as well. While the need for agricultural products is increasing with the increase in population, so we need a technology that has high efficiency on narrow land.
Aquaponics is a sustainable farming system that combines aquaculture and hydroponics in a symbiotic environment. In normal aquaculture, excretions from reared animals will accumulate in the water and increase the toxicity of the water if not disposed of. In aquaponics, animal excretions are given to plants to be broken down into nitrates and nitrites through natural processes, and utilized by plants as nutrients. The water then circulates back into the aquaculture system. In traditional aquaponics systems, electricity and maintenance are more optimal. This type of method is not suitable for use in areas that often experience power outages. The more often or longer the electrical power used, the costs incurred will also be greater.
Aquaponic technology is expected to reduce the shortage of agricultural products, but on the other hand there is a contradiction with the problem of the energy crisis, the use of electrical energy needs to activate a water pump that functions as a sucker for water from fish rearing tanks into tanks containing plants. Therefore, unlimited use of renewable energy is needed, one of which is solar energy. The potential of solar energy in Indonesia is the largest renewable energy with solar energy potential of 532.6 GW (Source: IRENA REmap 2017), but the utilization of renewable energy is still very minimal where in 2015 the use of New Renewable Energy (EBT) only contributed 5% of the total energy consumption, which is 8.5GW and is still dominated by PLTA and PLT biomass. Utilization of solar energy with photovoltaic (PV) will overcome the problem of energy sources needed, and also take advantage of Indonesia's geographical conditions which are rich in new and renewable energy, one of which is solar energy.
Therefore, we need a new idea to overcome the problems above. AquaBerry, is the answer to this problem. Because AquaBerry is a combination of an Aquaponics system with the latest technology in the form of Utilizing Solar Panels as a charging power source for batteries that are integrated with the Raspberry Pi as a system controller. The use of solar panels for aquaponics systems in Indonesia still does not exist. AquaBerry has many advantages compared to conventional aquaponics systems, such as the use of solar power as a charging source for batteries, monitoring the state of the aquaponic system continuously. real time, and also automatic fish feed control. In the future, AquaBerry is able to be a solution for the use of aquaponics systems that are constrained by energy problems and can also provide convenience for aquaponic farmers in controlling and monitoring current conditions and the results of aquaponics themselves. And AquaBerry is the pioneer of appropriate modern technology to increase the productivity of aquaponic farmers in Indonesia.