Innovative ideas: Grow tomatoes, lettuce using 80% less water

BBA students start hydro-farming business, offer solutions for drought-stricken areas

KARACHI: By growing tomatoes and lettuce using 80 per cent less water than usual, two business students may have come up with a solution to farming in drought-stricken areas of the country.

This unique hydro-farming project started off as an assignment for a 'Developing Entrepreneurship Options' class that 22-year-olds, Yousuf Huzefa Motiwala and Ibrahim Y Petiwala, came up with while they were BBA students at the Institute of Business Administration (IBA).

Traditional agricultural lands have seeds planted in a line, usually four feet apart, explained Petiwala. "When the farmer waters the field, he ends up watering the empty distance in between and that wastes water," he said. "Hydro farming is a clean system where plants grow without soil."

Petiwala said a lot of water can be saved if such farming is practiced in places, such as Thar. "Farming can be done by making small reservoirs of water that can keep recycling and watering the plants," he said.

The two young men built their greenhouse in North Nazimabad nearly four months ago with funding from IBA's Centre for Entrepreneurial Development and a private bank. This greenhouse has a capacity to hold up to 125 plants and can produce up to 2,600 kilogrammes of vegetation.

Inspiration

"We thought of bringing something new to Pakistan, which is an agricultural country," said Motiwala. "We lag behind in industrial equipment, new variety of seeds and modern farming techniques.

The idea to build a hydro farm started with the help of an agriculturist friend who helped them with the initial prototype, Motiwala explained. Then they carried out extensive research on hydro farming and tweaked their findings to Pakistan.

"Karachi is a natural greenhouse," said Motiwala. "The weather is neither too cold nor too hot, so it is ideal for this kind of a project."

The young man believed that hydro farming is a field where renovation has not taken place so there is a lot of scope and a lot of revenue potential.

Special technique

Based on their feasibility study, Petiwala shared how the production of tomatoes in Pakistan is 10 tons per hectare. "It can be increased to a minimum of 60 tons per hectare through hydro farming."

They make this possible due to the special farming method called Nutrient Film Technique. "This is the first hydroponics method used for such farming in Pakistan and the toughest to master because you have to take care of little things," pointed out Motiwala. Hydroponics is a kind of farming method through which plants can be grown using mineral nutrient solutions in water, without soil.

The total dissolved nutrients are checked through a sample test every day with the help of PH scale and total dissolved solid meter, explained Motiwala. The addition of these nutrients depends on when it gets dissolved in the water, which is filled in the tank every two weeks.

"You give plants the optimum nutrition they need," said Petiwala, adding that usually farmers do not look out for micro nutrients in the soil. "In normal agriculture, some of the plants suffer from malnutrition."

The plants are also given light at night which can reduce their growing cycle from three months to two months, said Petiwala. The soothing sound coming from the glass pipes as the water passes for recycling adds to the aesthetics, he said. "We are looking for architects who can incorporate it in their building designs."

The duo was recently recognised by Shell Tameer, which works as a social incubator and assists young talented people with their business. The enthusiastic duo hope that this will go a long way. "Pakistan is a very viable market because this [agriculture] is a necessity. We want to pool resources in and open small units across the country."

Part of IBA's first batch of entrepreneurship majors, the duo were happy that more people are opting for their own businesses rather than seeking jobs.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 17^th, 2015.