HYDROPONICS - Farming without Land

Hydroponics

Our agricultural system has to meet a huge task by 2050.We need to increase the food production by about 70% to meet the caloric needs of the global population of 9.8 billion. Nearly 90% of the population are urban. The number of resources used by traditional agriculture is enormous where the crop production has also saturated sufficiently. Intensification and expansion of land for cultivation is the only viable option to meet the growing needs.

Globally 70% of water usage is for agriculture because of unsustainable irrigation practice. By 2050, nearly 593 million ha of land has to be transformed into agricultural land. This outlook place essential ecosystems at risk of being destroyed.    One of the alternatives is Hydroponics, farming system without soil and land (which was earlier called water culture) which offers solutions to the detriments of current agricultural problems.

What is Hydroponics?

Hydroponic is an art of growing plants, without soil, utilizing solutions of mineral supplements   in water.  In hydroponic culture, supplements in the aqueous form is used to nourish the plants. It ensures the recurrence of providing the supplements to the plants.  This technique can be applied in mixed farming also.  This technique can also be classified as a protected cultivation technique.   The substrates used are inert materials as, coir pith, rock wool, perlite, vermiculite etc.  furl support of the roots of plants.