Are you one of those folks who like gardening but do not have enough time to tend to your plants? Or someone who is not home often and have to ask someone to water them? Then you would per­haps be interested in hydroponics, which lets you tend to your plant just once a fortnight. Using this technol­ogy you can easily grow fruits and vegetables such as tomatoes, lettuce, spinach and cucumber. Hydroponics is a method of grow­ing plants without soil, using only mineral nutrient solutions in water. Terrestrial plants are grown in high-tech tunnels or pipes with only their roots exposed to the mineral solu­tion, or the roots may be supported by an inert medium such as coco peat (coconut powder) or gravel.

 Hydroponics is a method of growing plants without soil, using only mineral nutrient solutions in water

Ganesh Kumar Pandey, who start­ed hydroponics (‘soil-less farming’) in Nepal with his Hydroponics Nepal Private Limited, hopes that “the new generation can use this technology to grow their own vegetables on their rooftops.”

With rapid urbanization of Kathmandu and with land getting increasingly scarcer and expensive, hydroponics assures best use of gar­dening space. “Using hydroponics you can get the same yield in 5,400 square feet of land that you would get in 27,000 square feet of agricul­tural land,” Pandey says.

The initial investment may seem a touch high for some. For example, to install the system over a 400 square feet of land, Rs 50,000-75,000 has to be spent on pump, timer, sub­mersible pump, high-tech tunnel, containers and nutrients. But small hydroponics systems can be installed with initial investment of as little as Rs 20,000. If you plan on installing the system yourself, a knowledge­able technician would cost you Rs 1,500 a day. Pandey argues that this is good investment in long term because once installed, you only pay for nutrients and electricity (to keep the water running) for the next 15 years. Also, 400 square feet of land, if used strategically, “can easily feed a family of six round the year”.

There are other benefits too. The plants do not contract soil-borne dis­eases. In more traditional farming, a great deal of human and non-human resources as well as time are used up nurturing plants. Hydroponics, in addition to requiring less time from you, also ensures no bugs or dirt. Pandey says that vegetables grown this way taste better and stay fresh for longer, compared to those available in the market. As the plants do not have to compete for nutrients with other plants and can get nutri­ents as and when they want, they are healthier as well.

But there are some downsides too. This automatic system requires electricity for the water to run and with the power-cuts that Nepalis (still) experience, one has to have a generator to ensure smooth growth of plants. “Due to the presence of some chemicals in the nutrients, it is also only 80 percent organic,” Pan­dey informs. Moreover, the plants require controlled lights and tem­perature. Pandey assures that they are still developing the technology and in due course the system would be made even more efficient.

Pandey says that despite the gov­ernment showing some interest in the beginning, there has been no initiative to promote hydroponics in Nepal. As the nutrients for hydro­ponics have to be imported, their cost is as high as Rs 400 a kg. “If only the government made the nutrients tax-free, it would be of great help for our cause!” he says. Not everyone who is interested can afford it, thus if a banking system were available where one could pay for the system in installments, Pandey adds, per­haps more would be encouraged to take up hydroponics.

Despite all these challenges, Pandey says the company gets around 50 requests a day from people who want to learn about hydroponics. He plans on starting a training program for them in the next two months.