Aquaponics!!

As I walked through the beautiful park/mini-forest in Merida, Mexico during my summer internship about 8 years ago, I felt a distinct connect to Mother Nature. The scent of the flowers, the hustling of the fish through the man made pond, added the perfect touch to an amazing afternoon walk (after a sumptuous lunch). It made me think of contributing something back to nature before we leave for our heavenly abode.

A year later, an article in a leading newspaper introduced me to new way of soil less farming called Aquaponics (fishing and farming). You can read a wiki on Aquaponics here - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aquaponics.

The Israelis (due to lack of water in their region) have taken great interest in this type of farming. As water in becoming a scare resource in this world, I believe more people would try out this type of farming soon.

As I was wondering about the logistics of implementation of this type of farming in India, I came across another article of a sub-type of Aquaponics called Hydroponics or ‘vertical farming’ by an ex-IT engineer, who has been implementing it successfully in Goa, India - https://www.thebetterindia.com/79003/ajay-naik-goa-hydroponic-farm-software-engineer/.

Both types of farming relate to plants being grown in a PVC tube or a metal tray without exposure to ground or soil. A quick Google search of this type of farming will yield you thousands of links and study materials. Below are the advantages of Aquaponics or Hydroponics.

1. Can be set up quickly inside the city. This would help us to avoid long arduous travels to villages/sub towns to look out for a farm land.
2. Less labor intensive. As soon as the farm is set up in a room, it might require an hour’s work in the morning and evening. This might be a parallel or in-addition work to our regular day/office work.
3. No pesticides or insecticides. As there is no concept of soil, no external agents of growth are required.
4. Provides fresh vegetables for the family and can be utilized for commercial purposes, if supply exceeds home demand.
5. More Oxygen. Provides you fresh bout of oxygen in the cramped city life and for our world in general.

The cost of setting up this farm is up for discussion. It can range anywhere from 5 lakh to 50 lakh INR (500,000 to 5 million), depending on the sophistication of the equipment and rent of the room. The return on investment (from all the articles that I have read) is roughly about 2 years.

I would definitely give it a shot (perhaps a little later in life) and would encourage anyone (even with little interest in Nature) to give it try as well. Good Luck!!