Metropolitan population increasing at a rapid rate. At present 54% people live in Urban areas. Projections show that the world could add up to 2.5 billion population to the Urban areas with close to 90% growth alone from Asia and Africa by 2050. Countries like China, India, Nigeria will have the highest increase in Urban population as per the World Urbanization prospects by UN DESA. With this one can understand that the Food requirement by 2050 is dependent on the population by that time and is also directly proportional to the rate of food production. To feed a population of 9.1 billion, it would require raising overall food production to 70% by 2050 to meet the demand.
But, right now there are many worrying trends such as decreasing crop yields, loss of topsoil, increased demand for meat, effects of climatic change and growth of biofuels. These aspects keep a considerable amount of pressure on food supply in the coming years, which may result in shortages. At present world's agricultural land is assumed to be 40% of the total land on earth and areas suitable for further expansion looks very limited. To overcome the present visible scenario, new methods more sustainable and can provide more yields needs to be adopted. This is not as easy as spoken, because most beneficial and productive methods of urban farming such as Hydroponics and Aquaponics, still deserve a better place in farming.
Hydroponics
By Hydroponics one can adopt various methods like vertical farming, tower garden, Flood and drain systems, wick system etc., which can reduce the land usage and farming can be done in a little available area with much more productive than conventional methods. Crop yield will be much faster than other methods, at the same time no chance of soil-borne diseases. The consumption of water is less with an increase in productivity when compared to conventional means of farming. Farming can be done in all seasons
But, right now there are many worrying trends such as decreasing crop yields, loss of topsoil, increased demand for meat, effects of climatic change and growth of biofuels. These aspects keep a considerable amount of pressure on food supply in the coming years, which may result in shortages. At present world's agricultural land is assumed to be 40% of the total land on earth and areas suitable for further expansion looks very limited. To overcome the present visible scenario, new methods more sustainable and can provide more yields needs to be adopted. This is not as easy as spoken, because most beneficial and productive methods of urban farming such as Hydroponics and Aquaponics, still deserve a better place in farming.
Hydroponics
By Hydroponics one can adopt various methods like vertical farming, tower garden, Flood and drain systems, wick system etc., which can reduce the land usage and farming can be done in a little available area with much more productive than conventional methods. Crop yield will be much faster than other methods, at the same time no chance of soil-borne diseases. The consumption of water is less with an increase in productivity when compared to conventional means of farming. Farming can be done in all seasons
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| Cultivation of Tomatoes using Hydroponics technique |
Though this system has many benefits, the initial cost of setting up the project is high and require constant supervision. Due to dependence on power, some areas may face the power outage, where you require to water the garden manually.
Aquaponics
Aquaponics
Aquaponics is a technique where the combination of aquaculture is used for growing fish and other aquatic animals along with the hydroponics cultivation of crops without using soil. In this method nutrient-rich water is used to raise fish, which produces natural fertilizer for the plants and plants helps to purify the water for the fish. In this process, you will feed the fish and in turn, fish will feed the plants. Water used for this kind of farming is less and the recycled. With this method, you can grow 8 times more food per acre compared to traditional agriculture. This method is sustainable and nature-friendly. Soil-borne diseases can be reduced. Pesticides can be avoided by this method of cultivation. Only this to do is keep an eye on Ph value in water, oxygen levels to be maintained and excess feed for fish shall be removed.
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| Large Aquaponic farm |
Apart from mentioned methods, others such as Aeroponics and Hybrid Seed Technology would be amazingly refreshing and gives the required outputs. With these methods, farmers can overcome a short supply of water by minimizing the water consumption for the crops. Much research is being carried out to increase sustainable agriculture with larger yields. Hope extensive research in farming may bring newer technologies and reduces the excess demand for food due to increase of population and decrease in land bank in the future.
