The Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH) will be soon increased in India and new technologies like hydroponics, aquaponics, vertical farming and precision farming are added into it. It is in this spirit that the respective amendment has been made to seek to rationalise horticulture practices, raise production and output, as well as to cater for requests by several states for updated cost structure and standardised benchmark.
Background and Objectives
MIDH is a Centre Sponsored Scheme of the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare and was launched in 2015. This aims at the overall development of horticulture industry through encouraging the appropriate production, handling and marketing of various horticulture crops. That includes fruits, vegetables, root and tuber crops, mushrooms, spices, flower, aromatic plants, coconut, cashew, cocoa and bamboo.
Expansion of MIDH
The Union Government has decided to include four new components under the MIDH: These are; hydroponics, aquaponics, vertical farming, and precision farming. These high end practices are anticipated to change the entire horticulture practices in India for an improved productivity.
- Hydroponics: In hydroponics cultivation the plants are grown in nutrient laden water solution without the need for soil. It comes under controlled environment agriculture and in this way the yield can be better than other types of crops in few areas. Its usefulness is greatest in urban areas where land space is very limited, hence the use of hydroponics is advisable.
- Aquaponics: Aquaponics is a system of growing fish and plants where fish farming (aquaculture) joins with the farming of plants without soil (hydroponics). This system refers to an aquatic environment that feeds fish waste to plants and literally, the water from the plants is used to feed the fish. This kind of cooperation provides the system of rational and self-sustaining agriculture.
- Vertical Farming: Vertical farming is a particular type of farming that entails developing the crops in plates with several layers, usually indoors, and under light from LED. This has the added advantage of optimising yields per square metre thus making it suitable for the areas with high human density.
- Precision Agriculture: Precision agriculture is a technology based farming technique that employs data analysis, Geo-referencing and internet of things to control the farming inputs like water, fertilizer and chemical with excellent precision. It increases crop productivity and minimizes inputs hence enhancing sustainable agriculture systems’ adoption.
Revised Guidelines and Cost Norms
The Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare has given the steering towards the review of MIDH operational Guidelines and cost norms. It is planning to increase the cost norms under the MIDH up to 20% more than the current rates. The last review was done in April, 2014 and the new guidelines will be reviewed and probably released within one month.
Key benefits
The expansion of the Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH) towards advanced form of agriculture including hydroponics, aquaponics, vertical farming, and precision agriculture has lot of positive implications. These innovations are ready-made to revolutionise horticulture practices in India and improve productivity, sustainable use of the resources and the economy.
Better Efficiency and Product Quality
Utilization of modern practices of farming is one of the key advantages that can feature dramatic increase of yields and crops production. Factors like light, temperature and nutrients can be easily managed for the crops because hydroponics and vertical farming are types of systems. This has a result of faster growth cycles, productivity, and, the chance to grow several cycles within a single year, not influenced by seasons. Therefore, more production is made on the same piece of land and hence Food security is boosted.
Optimisation of resources
Crops, grown in hydroponics, aquaculture, precision agriculture are all intended to provide the optimal usage of resources. The use of water in hydroponic and aquaponics systems is often considerably less than in traditional soil-based production systems because water is usually recirculated through the system. Smart crops utilization adapt methods like GPS, sensors and data analysis in application of water, fertilizer and pesticides only to specified area without wastage. As these techniques seek to cut costs while ensuring efficient usage of resources to support sustainable farming and use of resources in the environment, they help to bring about sound outcomes in use of natural resources.
Urban and Peri-Urban Farming
The addition of vertical farming in MIDH makes many opportunities for agriculture in urban or peri-urban environment possible. Vertical farming involves growing crops in layers with tall structures indoors. On this system of farming, crops are grown in layers indoors, preferably in areas with high population density and little space for farmland. Such an approach can assist the cities obtain their own supply of fresh produce and therefore cutting down on the transportation of food and energy that was used to transport fresh produce from one region to another. Urban farming measures can also contribute to recovery of degraded urban areas, food security as well as provision of fresh produce to urban dwellers.
Adaptability and climate change
Weather and climate vary from place to place, and climate change increases some hard-hitting factors affecting agriculture such as variations in weather and temperature and water rationing. The modern farming methods used in MIDH contain better solutions for the mentioned challenges. Hydroponics and vertical farming practices make it possible to get a consistent yield all-year round, summer, winter, etc. From this theorem, we can infer that the use of precision agriculture makes the farmers to predict and counter act environmental change more efficiently hence will act as a tool to help counter climate change.
Economic Empowerment for farmers
Modern farming practices elevate the standard of living of farmers and help them earn more and do more with less from relying on old-fashioned farming procedures. Elevated crop yields and better use of inputs lead to higher returns to resources and, therefore, to farmers. Moreover, since high value crops associated with these techniques such as green vegetables, herbs and exotic vegetables are demanded in the market, the farmers are able to access these pricey markets. MIDH has devised farming training programs and capacity enhancement for farmers that will enable them to enhance or transform into using and benefiting from such innovations.
Employment opportunities
Further, the enhancement of MIDH for the addition of elaborate techniques of farming will generate new employment and economist opportunities in the region. Hydroponic systems, vertical farms and precision agriculture involve many highly technical aspects during installation and management hence employ highly skilled workforce thereby producing opportunities for employment in the agriculture and related fields. Continuation of training programs and workshops will enable the country to train competent human resources able to promote innovation and entrepreneurship in the agricultural sector.
Environmental Benefits
The farming technologies embraced under MIDH have enormous benefits on the natural environment. Loss of water, minimum use of chemicals and; tillage preserve the natural resources and prevent pollution of the environment reducing the rate at which the environment is degraded. One of the newest practices that incorporate fish farming for production of fish and hydroponics for production of crops is aquaculture.
Hydroponics, Aquaponics, Vertical Farming and Precision Agriculture
Hydroponics
Hydroponics is the practice of cultivating plants in nutrient enriched water solution without use of soil. Tomatoes and most other plants are grown in non-absorbent materials like clay pebbles, Rockwool or coir, that give support to the plant. Being an aquatic method of plant growing, the roots of plants are placed directly on nutrient solution so that it can access the necessary minerals and elements for its development.
Hydroponics also has the virtue of being able to control the conditions in which crops are grown. Conditions such as light intensity, temperature, ph, and nutrient concentration can to a very large extent be controlled, making the growth rates and yields much better off than in soil based farming. Just like drip irrigation, hydroponics also saves as much as 90% of water used in conventional farming because the nutrient solution in use is recycled.
It has a characteristic that make hydroponics ideal for use in urban environments where space is usually a restrictive factor. This form of hydroponics entails growing plants in a tower like structure to cover large areas in a very short space of time. Therefore, it is possible to grow fresh vegetables in the today’s urban settlements.
Aquaponics
Aquaponics is a combination of aqua culture which involves the rearing of fish together with hydroponics. It is a system where fish is being raised in tanks where the wastes from the fish are used as nutrients for plants. As the fish excrete their waste, this is recycled by some plank from nitride to nitrites which play the role of organic manure on the plants. The plants that are used for the properly aerate and purify the water and they return this water back to the fish tanks.
Integrated with aquaculture, aquaponics is a closed system that results in little waste of the resources involved. The problems of the water resource requirements are solved with the aid of the closed water circulation system, and thus require less water than conventional farming technology. Further, aquaponics can yield fish and vegetables at the same time, the means through which farmers can get two products and therefore two income sources.
Some of the benefits of aquaponics system include; the plants grown in this system grow faster, the usage of water is less and most importantly, no chemical fertilizer or pesticide is used. It is a very friendly to the environment and is adaptable to being used in different levels of farming from the backyard farmer to the larger farmer.
Vertical Farming
Vertical farming thus means the art of growing crops in layers right from one on top of the other, and in many a time indoors. This method involves the use of vertically inclined plates or vertically overlaid planes to generate food with best arrival of time and space, especially in those urban settings where space is limited. Vertical farming methods include hydroponics, aeroponics as well as aquaponics by which plants are grown without soil.
The first benefit of vertical farming is that the production is incredibly high, despite the small land area used. One of the most important benefits of growing plants indoors is virtual immunity to adverse external conditions; light, temperature, humidity and nutrient levels can all be controlled to provide the best possible conditions for plant growth at all times. This method consumes considerably little water since water is both circulated and used in the system, then again it is friendly to the environment. Equally, vertical farming reduces the use of pesticides, and herbicides in order to produce clean safe produce.
People living in urban areas get to enjoy from vertical farming since the vegetables and herbs that can be produced in the system do not have to be transported over long distances. More importantly proximity to the consumers implies fresher produce and plays a part in food security in the cities.
Precision Agriculture
Precision agriculture is an innovative technique that supports Agricultural productivity and efficiency by collecting massive information about crops’ health and their growth environment. This method targets the control and minimal utilization of farming practices with a lot of precision thus minimizing on the use of inputs for instance water, fertilizer and pesticides.
Precision agriculture uses several technologies including satellite, drones, soil probes and data analysis to acquire timely information on crop vigour, and soil and environmental variation. Such information is used to forecast plantings, irrigation, application of fertilizer and chemicals to minimize their use and maximize produce yields.
The two main advantages of precision agriculture are resource conservation in relation to costs and environmental impact. Used equally, in the right place and at the right time, inputs have been found to be very efficient in improving crop status, solving problems and managing expenses for increased yields and profits among farmers. Precision agriculture is also sustainable mainly due to for encouraging water conservation, soil protection, and chemical erosion.