About Hydroponics

What is Hydroponics?

It is a method of growing crops without relying on natural soil and is called hydroponics because it depends on the passage of water sufficiently to the roots of plants. It is a method that cultivates and grows plants without the need for soil as a medium for cultivation, as plants are grown in isolation from it by following plant support systems and providing water and nutrients necessary for growth. Also, dispensing with soil represents an ideal solution to the crisis of the shortage of agricultural land areas, so that vertical expansion and production of a larger quantity in a smaller area can be possible. Hydroponics relies on water in a closed cycle, as the water loaded with the nutrients that the plant needs is circulated and returns again to the tank, thus only very small quantities are consumed, and more than 90% of water consumption is saved through traditional agriculture, in addition to dispensing with fertilizers so that the production is healthy and sound.

Benifits

Hydroponics has countless advantages, even at the level of creating jobs for both men and women in the agricultural sector, which suffers from citizens' reluctance to work due to the old and bleak image created by traditional agriculture about the nature of work. Hydroponics takes place in a clean and air-conditioned environment.

Hydroponics is characterized by high productivity, optimal use of water and land area, the use of smaller agricultural areas, production in non-arable lands, and the production of high-quality products.

The advantages of hydroponics technology without soil include precise control of irrigation, fertilization, and treatment of the nutrient medium, diseases, and epidemics quickly and efficiently, which contributes to product quality and lower costs in the long term.

This technology is also characterised by the low need for a large number of workers for the purpose of servicing and preparing the soil by plowing and other operations followed in traditional agriculture, in addition to the ease and efficiency of the irrigation process, which is carried out very precisely and according to the plant’s needs, without wasting elements as a result of increased rates of use or decreased rates as a result of less fertilisation.

The application of vertical farming with hydroponic technology leads to high production per square meter. For example, with lettuce, 25 plants can be grown per square meter in a period of 35 days for one agricultural cycle. It is also possible to produce approximately 70 tons of lettuce per year in an area of 1000 square meters.

As for tomatoes, one square meter can produce 75 to 100 kilograms, or 100 tons per thousand meters.

All these figures confirm that hydroponics can fill the food gap in the production of many vegetables. In addition to other advantages such as less labor, cleanliness of the product, and ease of collection and preparation.