INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF INNOVATION LEADERSHIP SOCIETY AND SUSTAINABILITY eISSN :XXXX-XXXX Vol I, Issue 1, June 2021 DOI :

Soilless Farming () For Sustainable Food Production

Mehul Shah,BBA Student, Brihan Maharashtra College of Commerce, Pune Author Mail :[email protected] Abstract:

Human population has grown significantly. The world population is growing at a rate higher than 1% and in some countries, growth rate is as high as few per cent. Such a rapid increase in the world population has led to a reduction in per capita land available for soil based farming. The present world population is around 7.7 billion. Under such circumstances, coming up with alternatives to traditional farming techniques becomes essential. Hydroponics (a type of soilless farming) is one of the methods for mitigating per capita land availability. Hydroponics became popular recently but research and experiments were carried out in the 17th century. Hydroponics is a method of growing plants without soil, which instead uses mineral nutrient solution in a water solvent.

Besides restoration and preservation of cultivation lands, hydroponics has various advantages: it utilizes 85 to 90% lesser water, can grow plants in extreme weathers such as desserts and frosty areas, no environmental pollution, provides better yield as compared to conventional farming and has no harmful effects on the human health, since no pesticides and herbicides are used(100% organic).This type of farming will help landless labours since only 1/4th land can give an equal amount of farm produce and some plants can grow as fast as twice the speed of growing them conventionally. Also, this technique can be used in dessert areas such as Rajasthan and extreme cold weathers such as Kashmir.

The objective of this research project is to find out if soilless farming is a boon to mankind and if it’s feasible to implement it in the Indian context in the 21st century. In the present study, hydroponics (soilless farming) is elaborated and the feasibility to implement it in India and export prospects is proposed.The data collected for the research paper is via secondary data (based on data from magazines and other research papers).

Keywords: Hydroponics, Farming, , Sustainability, Food Production

Introduction:

According to a report (World Economic Forum, n.d.), food security is on a toss and we have to increase food production by 100 per cent by 2050 to feed the world. This means, that there is a deficit in food production as compared to the consumption. One of the major reasons of food shortage is due to meat and dairy based diets (animals need more food to produce fats). Meat and dairy products are carbon intensive, making livestock farming a key reason for agriculture based carbon emissions. Based on a report (World Economic Forum, n.d.), by 2050 the total world carbon budget would be completely taken up by agriculture (because agricultural emissions alone trigger a 2°C global temperature increase). INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF INNOVATION LEADERSHIP SOCIETY AND SUSTAINABILITY eISSN :XXXX-XXXX Vol I, Issue 1, June 2021 DOI :

One of the possible ways to increase agricultural produce is by increasing the amount of land under cultivation. This means, increase agricultural frontier by destroying forests (since per capita land has reduced), destroy the biodiversity, change the hydrological cycle and surrender the human race to severe climate change. Deforestation has already led to a 20 per cent increase in CO2 emissions which has heavily contributed to increase in carbon footprint. This clearly indicates that there has to be a change in the conventional way of producing food.

Plants grow through a process known as photosynthesis, in which they use light (not necessarily sunlight) and chlorophyll (present in their leaves) to convert carbon dioxide and water into glucose and oxygen. In a chemical equation form, it looks like:

6CO2 + 6H2O → C6H12O6 + 6O2

There's no mention of "soil" anywhere in the equation, and that's all the proof one needs that plants can grow without soil.

Soil isn't necessarily required for the plants growth and development. Researchers discovered that soil simply holds mineral nutrients close to plant roots, but soil itself isn't vital for plant growth. It only provides the basic macronutrients and micronutrients for the growth of plants. The key to plant growth are various mineral supplements, including nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. If one can include these fundamental mineral supplements into a plant's water supply, one no longer needs soil to grow plants. Soil based farming has disadvantages like wastage of water, huge land requirements, utilization of huge amount of compound composts, use of chemical fertilizers ,soil degradation, and so forth. However, soilless farming offers an approach to conquer the shortage of water required to grow plants and make optimum utilization of resources with zero harmful effects on the environment.

The word “hydroponics” is derived from Greek words hydro (means water) and ponos (means labor). Using "hydroponics," one can grow plants in a water solution of mineral nutrients instead of soil. It is a technique of growing fruits, vegetables and flowers without soil, and rather utilizing mineral supplement solutions in a water solvent. The nutrients utilized in hydroponics can emerge out of a variety of various sources, including fish waste, duck manure, nutrient solution, and so forth. Hydroponics uses controlled indoor growing environment which allows growing the purest vegetables possible year round, with absolutely no pesticides. Hydroponic farms can be set up indoors and fresh food can be grown all year long. Additionally, hydroponics may empower astronauts to spend longer times in space, since future missions might require long travel times. In recent decades, NASA has also done a lot of research in the field of hydroponic (NASA, n.d.) for its Controlled Ecological Life Support System (CELSS).

Hydroponics will make one to re-think what agriculture looks like in a world where water is scarce, people live in cities, and where all of us are waking up to the dangers of pesticides and INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF INNOVATION LEADERSHIP SOCIETY AND SUSTAINABILITY eISSN :XXXX-XXXX Vol I, Issue 1, June 2021 DOI :

other chemicals. Produce of hydroponics comes from a growing process that not only has a positive impact on our health, but the health of the world around us.

1) Hydroponics at Disney World, Florida- At the centre’s “Living with ” at Disneyland in Florida, which is an attraction to agriculture, a large part of it is dedicated to hydroponics. Many of the fruits, herbs and vegetables, including the Mickey shaped cucumbers, used at Disney restaurants are grown hydroponically. The Epcot centre is a huge attraction, one of the reason being the hydroponics system installed there.

2) Super vegetables- Since hydroponics uses controlled environment, it is possible to produce crops with various nutritional value combination. The US Department of agriculture has granted a $68,000 grant to a farm in Virginia (Endless Summer) for developing a “Super Lettuce” which contains the average daily requirements of potassium and calcium by a human. This represents the future growth and development in the way we humans produce food.

3) Illegal hydroponics.- One of the drawback of human mind is that it works in both directions(positive and negative). In June 2005, the drug enforcement officials in USA found $750,000 worth of marijuana from a persons house in Las Vegas which was grown hydroponically.

Literature Review

There was always a dilemma, whether hydroponically grown plants are actually more effective than plants grown in soil. An experiment was conducted by Maeva Makendi, which showed a competitive analysis between the plant's growth in hydroponic and soil system (D. C. Montgomery, Design and Analysis of Experiment, 8th ed. John Wiley & Sons, Inc, 2013. , 2013). The experiment was conducted on different types of plants for a period of 30 days. Hydroponically grown plants germinated faster and grew faster than plants grown in soil. Another study by Samangooei compared soil and soilless food production method, and the result showed that hydroponics is the better system for growing crops rather than conventional soil based farming. According to Sardare, crops grown in soil-less culture are healthier than crops grown in soil (M. M. S. G, “Comparative Analysis of Two Plant Growth Mediums: Hydroponic vs. Soil,” The Academy of Science,).

Various studies have been conducted with the aim of coming up with newer cultivation techniques. One of the method is soilless farming. Soilless systems help in optimum utilisation of the farmer's resources. There are various types of hydroponic systems but while selecting one of the techniques, following factors such as available resources, expected productivity, use of growth medium and quality of the produce are considered. Aquaponics combines fish farming with raising plants in water. In short, it is the mixture of hydroponics system and . It depends on fish waste as a source of organic nutrients which helps in plants growth. The nutrients are taken up by the plants and fresh water is again available for the fishes, this leads to the creation of a symbiotic relationship. In hydroponics, plants are suspended in INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF INNOVATION LEADERSHIP SOCIETY AND SUSTAINABILITY eISSN :XXXX-XXXX Vol I, Issue 1, June 2021 DOI :

nutrient-rich water. Using hydroponics, one can grow plants in locations where traditional farming is not possible or cost-effective. Hydroponically grown plants achieve better yields than a soil-based farming. (M. M. S. G, “Comparative Analysis of Two Plant Growth Mediums: Hydroponic vs. Soil,” The Academy of Science,)

History

Farming without soil, dates back to several hundred years BC. The Aztecs began a strategy for suspended plants dependent on hydroponics at Lake Tenochtitlan during the 10th and 11th centuries (Easy ponic, n.d.). The earliest published work on growing plants without soil was in 1627 in a book 'A Natural History' by Francis Bacon. One of the early successes of hydroponics was that it was successfully used on Wake Island, a rocky terrain location in the Pacific Ocean used as a refuelling stop for Pan American Airlines. Hydroponics was used there in the 1930s to grow vegetables for the passengers since it was expensive to import fresh vegetables. W. J. S. Duglas, during 1946 began hydroponics in India and set up a research facility in Kalimpong territory, West Bengal and furthermore wrote a book” Hydroponics: The Bengal System”. In India, crops like potato, , green bean, carrot, cucumber, and so on were cultivated by soilless culture. Hydroponics isn’t a new practice; yet, it is somewhat of a new technology. This means that the principles behind hydroponics have been around for years, but the study of it has only been around recently. One of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, was believed to have worked with some of the principles that are used in hydroponics.

Working of Hydroponics

If you have ever paced a plant cutting into a glass of water in the expectations that it will create roots, you've practiced hydroponics. It is one of the braches of cultivation where harvests are developed without the utilization of soil.

Basic requirements of plants to grow are nutrients and minerals, water, light, oxygen and carbon dioxide. Hydroponics (i.e., “water working”) is simply growing plants in closed frameworks and using irrigation systems in which the nutrients and minerals are dissolved in water and are recirculated in the system. The nutrients required by plants, which they normally derive from the soil are dissolved into water and the plant's roots are suspended in nutrient solution so that the plant can absorb the nutrients that it requires for growth. Hydroponics uses nutritive medium for plant nourishment. The nutrient content in the water is checked and balanced. Also, keeping the nutrients in an exact proportion is a prerequisite for better produce. The dissolved supplements are balanced for better result.

Plants also need light, carbon dioxide and oxygen at the root zone. In hydroponics, plants are grown in an inert medium such as dried clay balls or coco fibre, net pots and they are fed a solution containing a perfect mix of macro and micro-nutrients. Light is provided using LED where the exact range of wavelength is emitted on the leaves to carry out photosynthesis. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF INNOVATION LEADERSHIP SOCIETY AND SUSTAINABILITY eISSN :XXXX-XXXX Vol I, Issue 1, June 2021 DOI :

Oxygen and carbon dioxide is present in the water and air around the leaves and roots. Using hydroponics, one gets total control on the supplies to the plants hence controlling the growth of the plants as well.

Hydroponics farms can exist in any urban environment, just a short distance away from where you live and shop. This means one can consume fresh produce picked a few hours ago, compared to traditional farm produce which often sits for weeks, losing nutrients and flavour. Also, almost any kind of plant can be grown hydroponically, including veggies, herbs, climbers, fruits and flowers.

Controlled factors (factors affecting growth)

1) Nutrient solution

Plants grown hydroponically require essential minerals and nutrients which are supplied via the nutrient solution. The nutrients that the plants take from the soil are here directly supplied to the plants roots which are suspended in the nutrient solution. It plays a vital role in the growth and development of the plant and acts as a substitute to soil. This is the most sensitive part since each plant is in contact with this solution day in and day out.

2) pH level (nutrient pH)

The availability of nutrients and minerals for plants is controlled by the pH of a nutrient solution. The pH should be maintained between 5.5 and 6.5. Maintaining pH is very crucial since it affects the uptake of nutrients by the plants root due to osmotic pressure. If the pH is not maintained on an optimal level, even after having enough nutrients in the nutrient solution, the plant roots won’t be able to absorb them, hence affecting the plants nutritional value. This is an advantage of soilless farming since pH cannot be maintained and regulated in traditional farming.

3) Electrical conductivity

The electrical conductivity (Ec) is measured in dS/m. It represents the strength of the nutrient solution. Ec in hydroponics should be maintained between a range of 1.5 and 2.5 dS/m. Any imbalance in Ec of solution can affects the uptake of nutrients by plants due to osmotic pressure and hence affecting plant growth and yield.

4) Substrate culture (growth medium)

It functions as the substitute for soil in soilless culture systems. Here, a solid medium provides support for the plants, such as coco coir, expanded clay pellets, rock wool. These are generally used during the first few weeks of growth of the plant. It provides the roots with oxygen and brings the water and dissolved nutrients in contact with roots via the irrigation system. It acts as a contact point between the nutrient rich water and the plants roots. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF INNOVATION LEADERSHIP SOCIETY AND SUSTAINABILITY eISSN :XXXX-XXXX Vol I, Issue 1, June 2021 DOI :

5) Water quality

Water is the fundamental 'carrier' in hydroponics since it dissolves and circulates nutrients for plants in the system. There is continuous supply of water to the roots of the plants, hence maintaining the waters quality is the most important thing in hydroponics. The quality of water is hence a determining factor for the growth of plants. Various techniques are used for disinfection and maintaining the quality of water, such as heat treatment, slow sand filtration, etc.

6) Temperature (air, nutrient solution)

Since hydroponics is indoor type of farming, the internal environment is to be controlled. Based on the growth stage of the plants the temperatures are maintained. This is done so that the plant is exposed to the exact temperatures. The temperature is generally maintained between 17ºC to 22ºC based on the type of the plant.

7) Humidity

Humidity level during the growth stage (week 1 and 2) should be 70% and then should be maintained at 50%. During the initial growth stages the root system is not that well developed hence plants require higher humidity levels and further it is maintained at 50 per cent.

8) Carbon dioxide

Plants grow through a process known as photosynthesis, in which they use light (not necessarily sunlight) and chlorophyll (present in their leaves) to convert carbon dioxide and water into glucose and oxygen. In a chemical equation form, it looks like:

6CO2 + 6H2O → C6H12O6 + 6O2

As we see, carbon dioxide is essential for plants to undergo photosynthesis. The level of carbon dioxide maintained is generally be in a range of 1000 to 2000 ppm.

9) Light (duration, spectrum)

In hydroponics, sunlight is replaced by LED (light emitting diode). Since plants are grown indoor, light is to be provided to the plants. The duration of light varies around 14 to 16 hours followed by darkness for around 10 to 12 hours. The most important wavelengths are a part of red spectrum which is from 630 to 660 nm, since it encourages stem growth and flowering (Advanced led lights, n.d.). Blue Light (400 -520 nm) affects the chlorophyll content and leaf thickness. In some cases where the hydroponics plant is installed on the roof tops, natural sunlight is enough. This method is used in Singapore where hydroponics plants are installed on roof tops of huge multi storey buildings.

Advantages INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF INNOVATION LEADERSHIP SOCIETY AND SUSTAINABILITY eISSN :XXXX-XXXX Vol I, Issue 1, June 2021 DOI :

Soil gives support, water for plant development but, soil does present major restrictions for plant development due to poor drainage, degradation, soil erosion and so on. Additionally, soil based farming is to some degree troublesome since it requires huge space, labour and huge amount of water. In metropolitan urban communities, soil isn't accessible for farming and in certain regions, shortage of rich cultivable arable terrains due geographical conditions. Under such conditions, soil-less culture can be implemented effectively. Hydroponics assists with confronting the difficulties of environmental change which affects growth of plants in soil based farming. A considerable amount of research has been carried out and published in the past few years which highlight the following advantages of hydroponics.

1) Faster growth

Each plants requirement is different. This can exactly be met using hydroponics. Tailored nutrient supply, tailored light and tailored water supply in hydroponics results into faster growth of the plant and a better yield with higher nutritional value. By doing so the crop cycle is reduced to 3/12 , which means the same crop can be grown 4 times in a year as compared to once via traditional farming method. This is a huge advantage as compared to soil based farming.

2) Increased productivity

Hydroponics works under controlled conditions so as to get higher efficiency and productivity. The amount of yield is 4 times as compared to soil based farming. Also, the plants grown are significantly larger because of the exact amount of nutrients made available and a better root system. This makes the yields bigger.

3) Chemical free

No soil means no weeds and pests. This means no use of chemicals. Hence plants grown hydroponically don’t use any pesticide, herbicides and chemicals which results into a healthy yield for consumption and no harm to the environment. Also, the cycle time is much higher than soil based farming, which avoids use of chemicals for faster growth.

4) Saves space

Increase in world population has bought the problem of lower per capita land available for soil based farming to limelight. There is lesser amount of land available but the number of individuals to consume the output has increased tremendously. Also, land availability for other purpose is reducing rapidly due to increasing population. Hydroponics can grow 4 times the crops grown in the same space as compared to traditional farming. Bowery, a vertical farm in USA claims that they produce 100x more produce on the same footprint of land used for soil based farming. This means they grow 100 times more on the same land footprint.

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF INNOVATION LEADERSHIP SOCIETY AND SUSTAINABILITY eISSN :XXXX-XXXX Vol I, Issue 1, June 2021 DOI :

5) Saves water

It is said that the next world war could be due to water scarcity. In the list of top 20 cities likely to run out of water, 3 Indian cities are under the radar (Bangalore, Chennai, and Delhi). Only 0.3% of water on Earth is usable for humans. 70% of this 0.3% is used for agriculture (World bank open report, n.d.). Hydroponically grown plants uses 90% lesser water as compared to soil-based farming since there is no drainage and seepage of water and water is reused in hydroponics. Based on a research, to grow 1 kg of tomatoes using soil-based farming, water required is 400 litres, whereas hydroponics can do so in just 70 litres of water.

6) Lower harvest to shelf period (grown locally)

Soil based farming is generally done in the rural areas due to which fruits and vegetables lose their nutritional value due to longer travel time(1 to 2 weeks). As the nutritional value is lost, the purpose of consuming it is also lost. But now, we have a solution. The harvest to shelf period of hydroponically grown produce is just 1 to 2 days since one can set up a hydroponics plant in any abandoned building or a roof top of any building or in a small space of 20 by 40 feet shipping container in a urban locality, hence providing produce which is fresher, has higher flavour and high nutritive value.

7) Year-round yield

Since it is a type of closed cultivation, there is no effect of weather, hence allowing year round growth. Plants can be grown year-round since indoor climate conditions can be controlled. This is a huge advantage since during natural calamities such as floods, the crops grown on farm land are washed away, but crops grown indoor are not affected.

8) Human health and eco friendly

Traditional farming uses GMO seeds (these seeds are bred in the laboratory, hence making it the most controversial practices in farming). Hydroponics does not use any chemicals and fertilizers, pesticides, making it safe for human health (NASA report, 2006). Traditional farming leads to “wear out” of farms soil as the nutrients are absorbed by the plants, but nothing as such happens in hydroponics.

The combination of higher productivity, faster growth, chemical free produce, lower water utilisation, better nutritional value and healthier option makes hydroponics a better option than soil-based farming.

Following is a compartive analysis between yield using soil based farming and hydroponics. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF INNOVATION LEADERSHIP SOCIETY AND SUSTAINABILITY eISSN :XXXX-XXXX Vol I, Issue 1, June 2021 DOI :

Limitations of hydroponics

1) High capital investment

This is the major drawback of hydroponics. Many people are reluctant to make an investment in hydroponics because the initial cost of the setup for soilless farming is high, but due to faster growth cycles, the cost gets offset in 3 to 4 years. Also, the government provides subsidies.

2) Training of personnel is necessary

Soilless agriculture requires trained people to maintain the system since the root system is freely suspended in the water. Any error in maintaining the optimal level of requirements by the plant can affect the output. This is one of the reasons that hydroponics is not yet used up to that extent in developing and least developed countries as it is used in countries such as USA and Canada.

Government schemes

As the Indian population soars, the government has understood that conventional farming would not be able to feed such a huge population. Since hydroponics has many advantages as compared to traditional soil based farming, government is providing various schemes to promote it. Due to the lack of awareness in people about hydroponics and to attract people to invest in this, the government is promoting it via the National horticulture board.

The National horticulture board (NHB) promotes hydroponics by providing various benefits and subsidies to people ready to invest in hydroponics. Government provides a 20% credit linked subsidy with an upper limit of rupees 25 lakhs (National horticulture board schemes, n.d.). This scheme is available only for projects with more than 1000sq meter area. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF INNOVATION LEADERSHIP SOCIETY AND SUSTAINABILITY eISSN :XXXX-XXXX Vol I, Issue 1, June 2021 DOI :

Another reason for the government to promote hydroponics is that India imports a huge amount of exotic vegetables and fruits. According to a report, India imports 85 per cent of its exotic vegetables requirement from various countries and the exotic vegetable market is growing rapidly at a 15 per cent rate.

Exotic fruits import of India is around four lakh tonnes which is around 40 billion Indian rupees. (Media India, n.d.) By promoting hydroponics these exotic fruits and vegetables can be grown locally in India without worrying about the climatic conditions and requirements for the exotic varieties to grow since hydroponics has controlled environment.

Requirements for setting up a hydroponics system

The basic requirements for setting up a hydroponics system is a small piece of land, LED lights, clean water, nutrients, the base for plants( pipes or a hydroponics channel), air control system, water control system, humidifier, and the most important part : trained personnel to take care of the system.

Hydroponics as an investment option

Hydroponics vs real estate investment in Pune

Here, a comparative analysis of investment in real estate and hydroponics is done. Real estate is considered here for comparision because in a common man’s scenerio, where various investment options such as shares, fixed deposits are available, but due to the restraints in such investments which can be high risk in case of shares and lower returns in case of fixed deposits, real estate is considered. One of the benfit of real estate is that you posses the holding of the land and one can also depreciate this asset.

So, an equal amount of investment of rupees 30 lakks in done in both the investment opportunities. The average increase in property price in Pune was from 5000 to 7500 from 2013 to 2019. According to a report given by Global Property Guide, in Pune, prices rose by 2% year on year per sq. m (Global property guide, n.d.). If one buys a 1BHK in Pune , it would cost around rupees 30 lakhs, and according to statistics, a 2 per cent increase each year for 2 years would land to 31 lakh 20 thousand rupees (1,20,000 increase). INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF INNOVATION LEADERSHIP SOCIETY AND SUSTAINABILITY eISSN :XXXX-XXXX Vol I, Issue 1, June 2021 DOI :

Now, if we consider an investment in hydroponics, a 20*40 feet container would need an investment of rupees 30 lakhs. A multi-layered growing system provides up to 3,000 plants in each container (Inhabitat, n.d.). If we consider that we grow lettuce, it needs 40 days for 1 cycle of lettuce to grow (Green and vibrant, n.d.). According to the average price of lettuce in Pune, which is 50 rupees per 250 grams, one can recover his entire investment in just 2 years and 3 months.

Following are the calculations

2 years 3 months = 820 days

One cycle requires 40 days

Hence, 20.5 cycles would be completed in 820 days

Now, 20.5 cycles * 3000 plant heads per cycle = 61500 heads

Now, 61500 plant heads * 50 rupees = 30 lakh 75 thousand

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF INNOVATION LEADERSHIP SOCIETY AND SUSTAINABILITY eISSN :XXXX-XXXX Vol I, Issue 1, June 2021 DOI :

Hence, one can recover his entire investment in just 2 years and 3 months.

Hydroponics Real estate

Investment 30 lakh 30 lakh

Area 40*20 feet container 500 sq ft

Yield in 2.3 years 61500 plants

Income in 2.3 years 30,75,000 1,20,000

Investment recovered in 2.3 years Based on market

In worst case scenario of the market 2.3 years only for recovery Around 15 to 20 years conditions

From the above table, it is clear that an equal amount of investment made in real estate and in hydroponics would lead to a completely different outcome. The income after about 2 years in case of hydroponics is almost the same as the investment made in it, whereas in case of an investment in real estate, it all depends on the market situation. In worse market condition, the returns from hydroponics do not change but in real estate it may take around 15 to 20 years to recover the amount.

Growth prospective (future)

The current hydroponics market is estimated at USD 8.1 billion and projected to grow at an annual growth rate of 12.1% to reach USD 16.0 billion by 2025.India Hydroponics Market is expected to grow at an annual growth rate of 8.3%. In India, major production is done by Junga FreshNGreen and Chennai man. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF INNOVATION LEADERSHIP SOCIETY AND SUSTAINABILITY eISSN :XXXX-XXXX Vol I, Issue 1, June 2021 DOI :

By 2050, producing food for a planet of 9 billion individuals will require an expected 50 per cent increase in food production and a 15 per cent increase in water. As population is increasing and arable land is declining, people are turning to newer ways for crop production like hydroponics (vertical farming). Hydroponics is growing rapidly, and it could very well dominate food production in the future. Currently, the arable land comprises only around 3% of the Earth's surface, and the world population is around 7.2 billion, resulting in only around 1/5 hectare (2,000 sq m) of arable land per capita. By 2050, world population is estimated to be 9.8 billion. So as to feed the increasing population, hydroponics has begun replacing traditional agriculture.

To get a glimpse of the future of hydroponics, we need to examine some of the early adopters of this science. In Tokyo, land is incredibly important because of the increasing population. Since the indoor climate is flawlessly controlled in hydroponics, four harvest cycles are performed every year, rather than the customary single harvest. Hydroponics was also used in Israel, which has a dry atmosphere. A company in Israel (named Organitech) is growing crops in 40-foot shipping containers, using hydroponic. They grow large quantities of berries, other fruits, all of which couldn't have been possible in Israel's climate.

Hydroponics likewise will be essential to for future space program. NASA has undertaken various researches, which will benefit space exploration, and will also help in long term colonization on moon and mars. As we haven't yet found soil that can support life in space, hydroponics seems to be the best solution. The benefits of hydroponics in space are two-fold: It offers the potential for a larger variety of food, and it provides a biological aspect, called a bio regenerative life support system. This implies that as the plants grow, they absorb the carbon dioxide and stale air and release oxygen as a plant's natural growing process. In short, Hydroponics is: Growing food for a better future. Due to the increasing population, one needs to ensure food security and safety by coming up with new alternatives which focuses on eliminating the external factors affecting the plant growth, by using systems such as hydroponics. Listing down the main future growth areas for hydroponics are: INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF INNOVATION LEADERSHIP SOCIETY AND SUSTAINABILITY eISSN :XXXX-XXXX Vol I, Issue 1, June 2021 DOI :

1) Precision farming

By monitoring the growth and capturing data regarding the plants, one can eliminate the ancient practice of “eyeballing.” The crops can be provided exactly what they need and noting in excess - from nutrients and water to light.

2) Outer space

The national space agency of USA sees hydroponics as a way for producing food on Mars and moon, and also has undertaken many experiments so that astronaut can grow their own food in outer space during long time stay in spaceships.

3) Urban farming

Due to increasing population in cities, it has been difficult to fulfil food needs and also adds a cost of transportation. Hydroponics has proved to be a saviour for people in cities since one can produce own and fresh food. Hydroponics farms can exist in any urban environment, just a short distance away from where you live and shop. This means one can consume fresh produce picked a few hours ago, compared to traditional produce which often sits for weeks, losing nutrients and flavour.

Hydroponics industry is expected to grow exponentially in the upcoming days since demand for food has increased tremendously because world population in growing at a very high rate. With special reference to India, where urban concrete jungles are built every day, we do not have any other option other than accepting soilless farming to ensure food security in India.

Exports: India has diverse varieties of fresh fruits and vegetables. India ranks second in production of fruits and vegetables. According to the data published by National horticulture board, India produced 90.2 million metric tonnes of fruits and 169.1 million metric tonnes of vegetables. During 2018 and 2019, India exported fruits and vegetables worth 10236.93 crores. (Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority, n.d.)

Using hydroponics, various types of fruits, vegetables, herbs and flowers can be grown. Naming a few: tomato, lettuce, leafy vegetables, pepper, cucumber, micro greens, beans, broccoli, carrots, celery, cucumber, onions, potatoes, strawberry, blueberry, watermelon, grapes, oregano, basil, peace lilies, orchids, marijuana.

Due to the tropic line of cancer which passes through the map of India, the climatic conditions across India are much more favourable than other neighbouring countries. This gives India a competitive advantage. Also due to the various landscape and weather conditions, India has a great potential to grow in export.17 countries, mostly in the Middle East, face the risk of extremely high water stress. This gives India a great opportunity to export fruits and vegetables to Middle East countries. One of the best trading partners could be UAE and Qatar since the transit time is just 2 to 3 days. Exports will also help in getting in foreign exchange and reducing unemployment. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF INNOVATION LEADERSHIP SOCIETY AND SUSTAINABILITY eISSN :XXXX-XXXX Vol I, Issue 1, June 2021 DOI :

Thought the Indian share globally is only 1 per cent, there is high demand for produce grown hydroponically worldwide. APEDA, which stand for Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority of India, also provides various benefits for exporters who export fruits and vegetables.

Conclusion

Food is personal, but our current food system is broken. As a high population country we rely on cheap and mass-produced food, giving up on quality for quantity at the expense of human health and environmental impacts. We do not know where much of what we eat comes from, nor can we count on it for being safe and plentiful enough to feed our growing global population in the upcoming years. Something has to change.

Three out of 5 most populous countries in the world are located in Asia. As the world population increases, more food is required to be produced in the upcoming four decades as compared to what was produced in the past 10,000 years. As the population of our planet soars and arable land available for crop production declines, need for newer alternatives for crop production is essential to be found. The traditional farming technique using soil system will not cover the world's growing demand for food. Thus, developing a new farming technique is required to avoid food crisis issue in the future. Hydroponics offers us a way out and allows us to produce crops in greenhouses or in multilevel buildings dedicated to agriculture. By growing high quality produce in urban spaces and using far fewer resources, hydroponics addresses some of the biggest problems in our food system today.

Like everything, soilless farming also has both sides of a coin, however with the gradual decline of arable land all around the world it becomes necessary to look out for new alternates for production of crops. Soilless farming may not seem so significant at present but it has tremendous potential in the coming future. The technologies and techniques involved in soilless culture can be called as next-generation crop science because; it opens a doorway to establish a new civilization in outer space. In a world, where clean water and nutritious food supply are significant issues faced by humans, I see hydroponics as a major way to solve these problems in a sustainable way. The farming of the future has begun!

Limitations

One of the major constraints for the research was limitation of funds because setting up a hydroponics plant is expensive and collecting data from self-setup plant would require at least 2 months. Also another limitation was time constraint due to which the first constraint could not be overcomed.

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