Last month, we wrote about hydroponics, a method of growing plants without soil and by using only mineral nutrient solutions in water. There is another farming technology, developed by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in the early 1990s, which has now made its way to Nepal. Aeroponics is a process of growing plants in an airy or misty environment without the use of an aggregate medium or soil. This farming technology was introduced in Nepal by AeroRoots, a hi-tech agriculture company, a year and half ago and it has been customized for Kathmandu’s market.

The produce is healthy. Tests done on the aeroponics products in Kathmandu found them to be fully organic

Sandhya Bajracharya, manager at AeroRoots, says the idea was born out of the desire to fight the massive brain drain from Nepal and to encourage youths to contribute to the country’s agricultural development. And so research on aeroponics started 28 months ago with a vision of ‘Pesticides- free tomorrow.’

Business development officer Salina Upreti says the produce grown in a single 5 ft by 5 ft system (drum) is enough to feed a family of two. “It is possible because the drum has 60 holes with protruding pipes. The suspended plants are grown in a closed or semiclosed environment. Mist nozzles automatically spray a nutrient-rich water solution inside the drum so that the dangling roots inside receive proper nutrition. A timer makes sure that the nutrient is sprayed at proper intervals,” says Upreti. She claims that the company has successfully grown 21 varieties of vegetables and that it lets clients—mostly nuclear families— select the kind of vegetables they want to grow.

Aeroponics offers many benefits over traditional farming, says Upreti. First, it requires little space; the drum can easily fit in a balcony or a small garden. Compared with the land required to grow 60 saplings in soil, the aeroponic system needs very little space. And the drum can be moved easily.

Second, it requires less effort. A lot of time has to be invested in traditional farming; however, once the aeroponic system is installed, it is pretty automatic and requires minimal care.

 Third, the yield is higher. “Something that takes 90 days to produce with traditional farming can be produced in 45 days with aeroponics,” says Upreti. Fourth, water usage is lower. Upreti claims that aeroponics only requires 1 percent of the water used in traditional farming.

Fifth, the produce is healthier. Tests done on the aeroponics products in Kathmandu found them to be fully organic. Sixth, one can easily grow off-season vegetables too, since NASA originally designed this system for use in space exploration. Seventh, the plants do not contract soil-borne diseases.

But despite such benefits, the initial investment may be a bit expensive for some. The whole package—consisting of a year’s supply of saplings and nutrient, a 5 ft by 5 ft drum, a nutrient pump, mist nozzles, a timer and the installation fee—costs Rs 75,000. But once the system is installed, it can last for over four years. And AeroRoots staff also visit their clients once every two weeks and give free consultation for a year. “The client needs to make sure that the electricity supply is uninterrupted,” says Upreti. “But not much electricity is required. The amount of electricity needed to fully charge a mobile phone is enough to run the system for a whole day.”

Anil Khadka, a professor at Premier College in Kathmandu, has been a client of AeroRoots since August 2018. He has two “aerogardens”, that is eight drums, for which he paid Rs 300,000. He says that the produce is more than enough for his family of four and he sells the extra produce. In the beginning, it was hard to adapt to the system and the production was less because there was some problem with the nutrients, he adds. “I was told that one needs to check on the system once every few days, but I feel one needs to do so at least once a day to make sure the nozzles have not jammed and the electricity is running. I am satisfied with the production for now.” When he tells people about aeroponics, many think that they can do it themselves. “An uncle of mine is going to experiment with this himself, and he has ordered the necessary materials from China.”

AeroRoots has received various awards. So far, it has sold 40 drums to 10 clients and won a grant of Rs 1.6 million from Nepal government. It also received an interest free loan of Rs 500,000 from the Ministry of Youth and Sports. “We are thinking of scaling up production and making aeroponics affordable for more Nepalis,” says Bajracharya