Women to cultivate European veggies using hydroponic farming.

Rudrapur 16 Dec 2023 : By doing hydroponic farming (only water farming without soil), women of self-help groups will grow colorful capsicum as well as European vegetables like broccoli, lettuce, chard in polyhouse.

The Horticulture Department in Uttarakhand Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Institute (UIRD) is preparing a polyhouse (green house) for hydroponic farming at a cost of Rs 9.5 lakh from the district plan budget. According to the Horticulture Department, the work of construction of polyhouse is being done in full swing in UIRD. In the polyhouse, women will grow vegetables in water using hydroponic technology. Before this, about 80 women farmers from across the district will be given training in hydroponic farming by scientists at the Uttarakhand Biotechnology Council of Turmeric in Pantnagar. After this, after the green house is ready in UAERD of Rudrapur, small plants, vegetables and fruits will be grown in it by the women. Chief Horticulture Officer Bhavna Joshi said that along with European vegetables, women will also cultivate colorful capsicum in the green house. Told that apart from this, vegetables like tomato, carrot, turnip, radish, pea, strawberry, blackberry, blueberry, watermelon, melon, pineapple, okra are also grown in hydroponic farming.

Hydroponic is a modern farming, it is done through pipes inside the polyhouse. Nutrients are also given to plants through water. Holes are made in these at the top and plants are grown in those holes, the roots of the plants remain immersed in these pipes. In this, farming is done by controlling the climate by using water. All the nutrients are dissolved in water as per the needs of the plants. In this, a little coconut peel powder (cocopeat) is used along with water. The temperature inside the polyhouse is kept between 15 to 30 degrees. The special thing about hydroponic farming is that due to being soil-less, the plants do not suffer from any disease. That is why the vegetables grown in it look very fresh and beautiful.