It is a general belief that growing your own food demands that you get your hands dirty. But what if there is an easier way? There is, and it is already happening. The practice of growing plants and crops in water without any use of soil is slowly catching the attention of the urban population in the country. Claimed as a new and easier form of doing farming, Hydroponics is attracting youth to see agriculture from a different perspective.
Kinley Wangmo from Monggar is into this new type of farming. She conducted her first trial at the beginning of this year and it turn out to be successful. Her greenhouse in Changzamtog in Thimphu has more than a thousand plants grown through hydroponics.
The 36-year-old was drawn to Hydroponics after she heard about it from her cousin brother.
“He told me that there is hydroponics farming in countries like Japan and Singapore.”
Transforming her interest into a reality, she took part in virtual training for a year. She used to work in construction which further helped her in setting up her hydroponics farm, the Bhutan Hydroponics.
“Since I already know about electrical and plumbing, he said setting up hydroponics will be easier for me. So that’s how I knew and I started researching it. I found it very intriguing. I heard good reviews such as commercial farming done through hydroponics and getting a good yield,” she added.
Kinley says, unlike other farming activities, Hydroponics is easier and crops can be grown throughout the year. According to her, Hydroponics also combats climate change and will help in achieving food self-sufficiency in the future.
“We mostly import food from India. Youth are not interested to work on the land. Working with the soil is hard actually. With hydroponics, the yield is much higher and it consumes less work. We can also save 95% of our water. If we engage in such activities it would only help our country. Due to the pandemic, many youth are somehow forcefully indulged in farming. So, this would also provide job opportunities,” she said.
Aware of how farming can be done easily through Hydroponics, Kinley plans to impart what she knows to interested youth. She says it is a one-time investment with a bright future. But many start-ups lose interest due to a lack of funding.
“Since I have to get the setups from abroad, it’s expensive. If financial institutions can also help and support fundings it would help the passionate ones,” she said.
In the future, she hopes to open a training centre for Hydroponics and carry out commercial farming as well. While this is her first step towards Hydroponics, she hopes to make hydroponic farming much bigger by inspiring the younger generation to take part in it.
Kelzang Choden
Edited by Sonam
