CONCEPT OF VERTICAL FARMING AS URBAN AGRICULTURE IN INDIA
Praveen Srivastava, CEO-LBCS
We are all aware of the exponential increase in world population and its grave outcomes. The time is not far when Earth would see a definite reduction in cultivable land and a spiraling food demand due to the land crisis and space crunch. Increasing urbanization is particularly evident among Indian cities, which face a massive influx of rural migrants seeking jobs and settling down in burgeoning urban sprawls. The UN estimates that by the year 2050, close to 70% of the world’s population will live in urban areas and the total population of the world will increase by 3 billion people.
There is an urgent need to solve the double-edged problem of shrinking arable land and providing food to an ever-increasing population. We are all familiar with rooftop kitchen gardens and greenhouses within apartments or multi-storeyed buildings.
So why not take this a bit further to prevent a food crisis and make ample use of available sunlight?
With population increasing in urban areas the nutritional requirements of this increasing population has to be met. People living in urban areas has very limited or no control over the supply and quality of food thus in this case organic urban farming or growing own food can be a possible solution to this problem. Urban agriculture has several benefits .It‟s not only an efficient and effective tool for making use of vacant unused open spaces in urban areas but also a way for generating income and employment and managing freshwater resources in cities. Its benefits are in many dimensions ranging from environmental, social to economic dimension. Environmental benefits are that it‟s an step forward towards organic farming and prevention in use of fertilizers and pesticides, (The state of Sikkim is declared fully organic in 2016), farmland preservation, reduction in food miles, water management, climate control etc. Social benefits are that it can be a source of leisure activities in urban life and contribute to psychological health and mental well-being of the society. It can be tool for keeping food culture and tradition blooming. With people‟s participation it can also turn out to be an active public space along with enhancing food security in community. Economic benefits are that it enhances the food growing supply, generate income and employment and can be a reliance food growing supply in case or vertical farming.
In order to provide a solution to the growing urban-rural supply chain issue, an innovative concept called “Vertical Farming” was jointly conceived by a Malaysian architect Ken Yeang and an American microbiologist Dickson Despommier. Vertical farming is an ultra-modern way of urban agriculture, which uses the principle of augmentation of the incoming sunlight as seen in a greenhouse. It is nothing but crop farms stacked on top of each other instead of spanning out horizontally. These high-rises are often called “Farmscrapers”.
Vertical urban agriculture is essentially made up of growing all kinds of fruits, vegetables, and flowers high-rise towers 20–30 stories tall or taller that provide a temperature-controlled environment. Plants are fertilized with compost and irrigated with nutrient-rich water provided through soil-less conditions known as “Hydroponics”. This process eliminates the need for any pesticides and chemical fertilizers.
Evidently, Vertical farming could be the simple yet effective and eco-friendly innovation for meeting the food requirements of the future generation. If designed properly, it may eliminate the need to create additional farmland and help create a cleaner environment. Without the use of chemicals for mass production the crops will be organic and even the loss of products due to harmful weather conditions can be prevented. Unlike traditional farming in non-tropical areas, indoor farming can produce crops year-round with an increased rate of productivity. Since the crops would be sold in the same infrastructure in which they are grown, there will not be any need to transport them between production points and the sales market, in turn resulting in less spoilage and cheaper costs.
While it seem like vertical farming is the ultimate solution to meet our future food requirements, there are downsides to this innovative method. The initial cost of vertical farming and the manual labor and the technology required behind it are huge. There are some downfalls since this system tries to compete against Mother Nature. Mass-producing plants within hermetically sealed, artificial environments that have little to do with the outside world will be energy inefficient. Pollination by insects and other natural agents have no role in vertical farming, so this intricate activity has to be done manually, which again results in cost increase. However, if this innovative farming method becomes feasible, then it may rob the jobs of conventional farmers, in turn harming the agricultural economy!
The idea of vertical farming has been adopted mainly developed nations such as Singapore, Japan, the US, etc. However, India is not far behind too, with serious experiments being conducted in agricultural institutions. The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) is trying its best to implement this new technique to bring about a revolution in Indian agriculture. Small-scale adaptations of vertical farming have been seen in Nadia, West Bengal and in Punjab. Bidhan Chandra Krishi Vishwavidhalaya in Nadia has found initial success in growing brinjal and tomato. Punjab also has succeeded in producing potato tubers through vertical farming.
Clearly, some of India’s chronic problems like lack of supply, overuse of pesticides and unemployment can be solved to some extent. However, the huge cost of infrastructure for a large-scale farm is a major hurdle for implementing vertical farming in India to be the next big thing. May be, this novel idea may become feasible for Indian agriculture in the not so near future!
Vertical farming can be defined generically as a system of commercial farming whereby plants, animals, fungi and other life forms are cultivated for food, fuel, fiber or other products or services by artificially stacking them vertically above each other. Vertical farming is large scale agriculture in urban high rise structures. The concept foresees the cultivation of fruits, vegetables, medicinal, fuel producing plants and other plant products in the cities and their sales directly within the cities, thereby reducing the transportation costs and efficient utilization of land and water resources.6 Vertical farming is a step ahead technology from green houses as it involves harnessing of resources in vertical arrays and can feed the demands of food supply with the resources of mega cities. Non Soil Agricultural techniques provide modern farming a strong tool to increase their harvest for a given farm land. These techniques not only increase the harvest by 3-5 times but also decrease water, pesticides, fertilizers usage from 50-80%.
Vertical farming includes three types of farming:
i. Phrase vertical farming was used by Gilbert Ellis Bailey in his book “Vertical Farming” in 1915. He discussed the utopian concept of vertical farming. He introduced the concept of underground vertical farming, presently followed in Netherlands.7
ii. In the second category, Vertical farming is done in open air or in mixed use sky scrapers for climate control and consumption. This is a sustainable type of farming for personal or community use and it may not be for commercial purposes. A modified form of this concept involves cultivation of crops in the periphery of sky scrapers to provide them ambient amount of light.
iii. Third category involves cultivation of plant and animals in the sky scrappers in the closed system for large scale cultivation. These systems under trials at various locations (Singapore, Canada, London).
iv. A vertical farm of 9300 m2 (roughly the size of a city block) with 30 stories should provide around 15,000 people with 2000 kcal of nutrition per day.6
Advantages of vertical farming
Increase in production and availability in crops: ——-
This farming technology confirms crop production all year-round irrespective of the environmental conditions. According to “The encyclopedia of earth, 2010” A 30 storey high building with a basal area of 5 acres (2.02ha) has the potential of producing crop yield equivalent to 2,400 acres (971.2ha) of traditional horizontal farming. Expressed in ratio, this means that 1 high-rise farm is equal to 480 traditional horizontal farms.
Production of organic crops: ————
Vertical farming will facilitate production of organic crops in large scale production. Further, adoption of this technology will help in reduction in use of chemical pesticides.
Conservation and recycling of natural resources:———-
The vertical farming technology includes hydroponics and aeroponics which consumes very less amount of water than utilized in the conventional agriculture. Thus, helps in conservation and recycling of the water resources. Further, urban sewage waste can be used in composted and recycled form in vertical farming, which will further help in recycling of the resources.
Environment friendly:————
Vertical farming will reduce the dependency on land resources and help in regrowth of forests. Further, due to less use of equipments, it will lead to decrease in CO2 emission, thus help in conservation of the environment.
Sustainable urban growth: ———–
Vertical farming, applied with a holistic approach in combination with other technologies, will help urban areas to absorb the expected rise in population and yet still remain food sufficient. However, traditional farming will continue because many crops are not suited to indoor farming.
Key issues challenging the adoption of vertical farming are——–
i. Uniform practices cannot be adopted for vertical farming due to variable weather conditions in different regions of the world.
ii. Lack of crop varieties suitable for the vertical farming. This aspect needs immediate attention from the researchers, as in the absence of suitable varieties adoption of this technique will be difficult.
iii. Lack of knowledge and skills required for farming practices in urban populations.
Exponential population explosion:
According to a report by the United Nations, the world’s population is estimated to grow from today’s 7.5 billion people to nearly 10 billion. These numbers present an even bigger challenge with natural resources such as water and arable land becoming scarce. Vertical farming, indeed, is the most favourable solution.
Increase in quality food production:
A vertical farm makes farming within the confines of a city, a reality. And when the farms are nearby, the produce is quickly delivered and always fresh; when compared to the refrigerated produce usually available at supermarkets.
Negligible wastage of water:
Agricultural industry, across the globe, is one of the biggest polluters using up to 90% of world’s water. But that could change with vertical farming. Due to the regular circulation of water, vertical farms use, in some cases, 95% less water.
Optimum use of energy: Modern vertical farms use less energy, all thanks to their LED lighting, when compared to outdoor farms. Moving forward, renewable energy such as solar energy is expected to be used in the vertical farms, too, to enable huge energy savings.
Vertical farms can never be expected to replace traditional farms, it is likely that they will have to complement each other if we are to meet the food demands of tomorrow. It is economically sensible, environmentally friendly, tech-savvy, and most importantly, health-sensitive. Vertical farming is not a fairytale; it is happening now. Rising food costs reflect underlying trends leading to failures with traditional agriculture. Vertical farming, a technology-driven model of agriculture, may offer a means to address farm output and food security in the years to come, even if it may not impact food prices in the many months ahead.
Traditional farming requires huge inputs to sustain it, from water to potentially hazardous pesticides to fertilizers. After food is grown by conventional agricultural methods, it must be stored, refrigerated, and transported to the urban centers where it will be consumed, making traditional farming highly pollution-producing. Vertical Urban Agriculture has the potential to solve this problem and could lead to urban and environmental renewal on a fantastic scale for India’s cities
Clearly, Vertical Farming can help to solve many of India’s urban problems. In addition to providing a sustainable source of food and drinking water, Vertical Farms can provide employment to locals. Additionally, businesses can take part in this trend by offering food grown on the premises as a perk.
However, if India were to adopt Vertical Farming, what would its conventional farmers do? The last 30 years have shown that India has taken to the service industries; perhaps India’s traditional farmers can move toward more industrial and service-oriented occupations
We can easily adopt this model nearby urban city and give a supplementary alternative to traditional agriculture n livestock farming in India.
References-On Request.
