Hydroponics farming launched at General Hospital
KOCHI: Hydroponics farming, a technique of growing crops without soil, was launched at Ernakulam General Hospital on Wednesday.The project was inaugurated as part of the World Food Day celebrations organised here in association with the Dietary Department, IMA Kochi, and ‘Haritha Jeevanam’ project. The sixth phase of the ‘Haritha Jeevanam’ project, where vegetables will be grown in grow bags on hospital premises, was also launched on the occasion. Vegetables cultivated under the scheme are used to provide free food to patients.
Hydroponics farming is the latest state-of-the-art farming technique in which the plant growth and productivity are controlled by water, especially the nutrient levels in water. In this method, water is enriched with well-balanced nutrients which are essential for the crop’s growth. The water level needs to be maintained in a specific volume to ensure better growth. the plants will take the nutrients from the water using the sunlight.
District Collector K Muhammed Y Safeerulla in his inaugural address said, “We should try to achieve food sufficiency by producing vegetables for our daily use at home. Our efforts should be streamlined towards attaining the goal of self-sufficiency in vegetable production. This will gradually decrease our dependency on the other states.”
The Hydroponics project was launched by actor-writer Renji Panicker by planting a cabbage seedling. “These sort of techniques will definitely be an encouragement to people who hesitate to turn to vegetable farming owing to space constraints. Gone are the days when people needed several acres for cultivation. The advent of technology has helped in overcoming the land constraints,” said Panicker.