Published 13:41 IST, January 29th 2021

Rajkot teacher adopts terrace farming to grow organic vegetables amid COVID-19

As concerns over chemical-free fruits and vegetables are increasing, citizens of Gujarat’s Rajkot are adopting terrace farming to grow more organic vegetables.

India News
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As concerns over healthy and chemical-free fruits and vegetables are increasing, several citizens of Gujarat’s Rajkot are adopting terrace farming to grow more organic vegetables that are safer and healthier. According to ANI, Deepak Nakum, who is a teacher-turned-farmer, has taken up terrace farming as a mission and has also been convincing others to take up the same. While explaining the technology he used, Deepak said that the entire system of terrace farming is called the Hydroponic system. He also revealed that the technique does not require soil and a minimal amount of water is needed.

While talking about the benefits of this farming, Deepak said, “The water requirement is only 10 per cent and the production is three to four times more than that of normal soil-based farming. There are also zero per cent chances of any diseases spreading through the soil in this type of farming”.

It is worth noting that hydroponics is rooted in modern science and in this method, crops are grown without soil, often called soilless farming. In this technique, the plant roots are submerged in a liquid nutrient solution. Thus, instead of soil that supports the roots of the plant, crops directly grow in nutrient-rich water.

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Hydroponic farming explained

Further talking about the health benefits, Deepak said, “These vegetables are consumed fresh without refrigeration. Therefore, the vitamins remain intact that are otherwise lost during transportation of normally grown ones. The transportation and refrigeration of vegetables reduce the number of vitamins”.

He added that terrace farming is also profitable for commercial purposes as it needs less space due to vertical farming techniques. Deepak stated that 90 per cent of vegetables grown using in this kind of farming is a success. Rasikbhai Nakum, who is also a terrace farming experts, further explained that the vegetables grown using Hydroponic system needs RO water that has low total dissolved solids (TDS).

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Rasikbhai said that vegetables like spinach, brinjal, tomatoes, chillies, lettuce, cabbage are a success in this system. He noted that while monitoring these plants, it is very important to measure soil pH and TDS as they innate the acidity or alkalinity of soil and is used to measure the concentration of hydrogen ions(H) in the soil solution. pH is measured from 1 (acidic) to 14 (alkaline), with 7 being neutral, and is measured on a negative logarithmic scale (base 10).

"During the COVID-19 lockdown, many families faced difficulties in stepping out to purchase vegetables. This hardship convinced many to opt for terrace farming that is also known as Hydroponic farming, where families can get fresh and vitamin-rich vegetable supply at home by making an affordable investment," Rasikbhai Nakum added.