Gurgaon adopts soil-less farming to grow chemical-free vegetables

GURGAON: With growing awareness on soil-free vegetables and fruits in the city, residents are asking for more soil-less vegetables that are free from harmful chemical residue.

And with a view to providing the city with safe and healthier vegetables, the Haryana horticulture department has commissioned a project at Panchgaon, Manesar, located 16km from the city. The initiative is aimed at growing soil-less vegetables and getting them supplied to the residential societies across the city.

The focus is on growing vegetables minus the harmful effects of pesticides. The project was launched in January 2016.

“This is the future of farming and vegetable cultivation. Instead of soil, coconut fibre is used to fill the pots and liquid nutrients are provided in a controlled environment,” Din Mohammad Khan, district horticulture officer, said.

Vinay Jain, an active participant in this futuristic agricultural project, said, “To grow soilless vegetables, we have to provide the plants with adequate sunlight, ensure proper environs and temperature for them to grow and add the nutrients required.”

Those engaged in this effort are trying to grow vegetables and fruits such as cucumber, tomato, capsicum, strawberry, lettuce and other leafy varieties.

FARMING MATERIAL

The process involves coconut fibre, filtered water, liquid nutrition, pebbles and saplings . Once soil-less farming picks up and finds takers among residents, people would also be encouraged to use to hydroponic system to enable terrace gardening or farming.

GROWING PERIOD AND PROJECT COST

Non-fruit bearing vegetables takes less than 15 days to grow, while the ones that bear fruit take about a month to grow. While it costs ₹60 lakh to grow soil-less vegetables over a one-acre area, the cost goes down if they are grown in a lesser space.

BENEFITS

The hydroponic process of growing soil-less vegetables ensures that they are available all around the year. Those involved in the project said the plants grow 50% faster than they would on soil and quantitatively too, the produce is a lot more.