The Super-Horta project, developed by Paróquia de São Francisco Xavier de Caparica and Agrooxy, aims to address food insecurity in remote areas such as refugee camps through a portable aquaponics system. This innovative solution focuses on local food production, education, and sustainability to provide nutritional support to needy communities while minimizing the logistical challenges associated with food supply. (Editor’s note)
ID 601 Success Story: Super-Horta
By: Andrew Conover
Refugee camps struggle to obtain food for the communities they serve. However, a solution to this problem is being developed by Paróquia de São Francisco Xavier de Caparica in the Portugal Province of the Jesuit Conference of European Provincials. Their solution to the complex problem of lack of access to food is a portable aquaponics system, dubbed “Super-Horta.” This project not only aims to grow food, but also pushes for education on ecology, using the system’s closed-loop ecosystem as an example. This project is currently in the pilot stage, determining whether or not the system will be viable and used for refugee camps.
Leading the charge, Fr. Luís Ferreira sees great potential in this project. Reflecting on his time working for the Jesuit Refugee Service, he frames the reality of food access in these camps, “The Refugee Camp in which I have lived for a longer period was in Kakuma, northeast Kenya. Every two weeks, a convoy of trucks would bring food from the port of Mombasa (food that had already been shipped from other countries). The convoy would thus drive 1,200km to reach the camp. Can we imagine the costs of such regular food transportation, both money and environmental damage?” This ecological reality would be partially mitigated by implementing the Super-Horta system. As Fr. Luís elaborates, “Of course, a single Super-Horta container system (or even several of them) would not be able to solve a food supply problem such as the one in Kakuma Refugee Camp. But, at least to a degree, it could mitigate it.” This small-scale innovation would have massive impacts on the global supply chain.
The Super-Horta system was developed in collaboration with the Portuguese aquaponics company, Agrooxy. According to Fr. Luís, the CEO of Agrooxy, António Ferreira, approached him with an idea, “Knowing that I had been working in Refugee Camps with JRS, António told me that he had had this idea of assembling an aquaponics system in a container. He thought such a system could be an important help for people living where access to food (and to technology) is not easy – Refugee Camps, or other places where food production is not possible, or is not enough. A container with an aquaponics system inside, he thought, could then be assembled in one place (where the equipment, and the know-how can be found), and then shipped and installed in another place, where there is no food, or where food supply may be an issue.” This is a small footprint with the potential for significant impacts.
Occupying the space of a 20-foot shipping container, this system is easily transported and assembled on-site. After the system is up and running, the only input needed is fish food. If you are unfamiliar with aquaponics systems, the idea is that the plants grow from the fish waste’s nutrients. Of course, the food grown is safe to eat; the fish waste acts as a fertilizer. The water is then filtered and recycled through the system. Fr. Luís expanded, stating, “The project started a few months ago only. So far, we have only tried growing lettuce. However, we know we can grow many things, like carrots, tomatoes, strawberries, etc. We hope we can grow these and other products in the near future.” If we expand this aquaponics system, it will be able to grow more nutrient-dense foods. This would help communities that don’t have enough nutrition, like refugee communities; they could get locally grown nutrition.
Another benefit of the aquaponics system is that the fish can be consumed after they grow. According to Fr. Luís, the system uses carp—around 100 in total. He notes, “Even though they had considerable growth since they arrived, they are still too small to eat.” Considering the lettuce that they have been able to grow, it “has all been channeled to our Parish social services, which, for years now, distributes food every week to people in need from these quarters (we currently provide food to around 600 people). All those lettuces were thus added to other food products we regularly distribute.” This system can produce up to 275 lettuces per month, removing some of the burden on the local food system. In communities where water is scarce, this system acts to preserve water, continuing to recycle the required water. Fr. Luís stated, “The only water that is lost is the water absorbed by the vegetables for their growth, together with a small amount of water lost to evaporation.” Therefore, the system can operate with minimal labor, just harvesting and feeding the fish.
The Super-Horta pilot teaches interested community members how to care for the aquaponics system to support the parish community. According to Fr. Luís, this opportunity has not been taken fully advantage of, stating, “Our initial idea was to give a total of three sessions of formation (three days each session) to several people living in this neighborhood. Around 10 people have started, most of them young people.” The problem, he observed, was that “only two [of the ten] completed the formation.” He identifies the root issue, stating: “I don’t think this is due to the lack of interest in the topics that were taught, but rather to the fact that the people who live in these quarters often have challenging lives, and struggle to persevere in programs with fixed timetables.” Following their formation, the two community members can maintain the system.
If the pilot project succeeds, the Super-Horta initiative will expand its activities. It will work with Agrooxy and eventually with the Jesuit Refugee Service. Agrooxy’s commitment to the expansion of this initiative is clear. Fr. Luis details, “Agrooxy will be able to support the expansion of this initiative: building new containers, providing formation, and providing remote supervision of installed systems, through the internet.” For this expansion to work, formation is crucial, and allowing dedicated community members to maintain the system is the end goal. Another goal of Super-Horta is to engage youth. Fr. Luis explained that they planned to start school visits to the Super-Horta. These visits would allow youth to see the active solutions to complex ecological struggles, inspiring them to be innovators solving multidimensional environmental problems.
Laudato Sì implores communities to respond actively to the cries of the earth and the poor. This empowering project further achieves the goals of Laudato Sì through its adoption of sustainable lifestyles, ecological education, focus on community resilience and empowerment, and Agrooxy’s commitment to expansion, allowing the initiative to have a foundation in ecological economics. As Pope Francis appealed in Laudato Sì, “Particular appreciation is owed to those who tirelessly seek to resolve the tragic effects of environmental degradation on the lives of the world’s poorest. Young people demand change. They wonder how anyone can claim to build a better future without thinking of the environmental crisis and the sufferings of the excluded[i].” This call was heard clearly by Fr. Luis and António Ferreira, addressing the call of the poor out of necessity. This initiative is truly unique. It is focused on justice and works to educate and bring the community together around ecology and aquaponics. Fr. Luis explained the necessity of this project, stating, “As far as I know, there are no other similar food-producing systems or projects like Super Horta.” Alleviating the burden of access to food is greatly important from an ecological perspective. Empowering communities to achieve a level of self-sufficiency in n
[i] Laudato Sì § 13.
