Drive on to create crops with minimum land

Nov 26, 2009 News

Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) and National Agricultural Research Institute (NARI) are currently collaborating on a project that will produce locally generated information for the further promotion of hydroponics, a method also referred to as the cultivation of plants without soil.

Pak Choi under solid medium hydroponic trials at NARI.

The project is in the form of cultivation of greens and vegetables using “soilless” methods with the eventual objective of producing a manual or Techpak for farmers and other persons who are keen to benefit from this non-labour intensive but highly efficient method of food production, a source at IICA said.

It is also in keeping with the Agency’s programme of pioneering, in collaboration with local entities, the introduction of new technologies for the benefit of farmers and other agricultural producers in Guyana.

The venue of the field trials is the headquarters of NARI at Mon Repos East Coast Demerara.

The food plants being grown in the trials are celery, pak choi, peppers, parsley, tomatoes and lettuce.

A source at IICA said that the specific objectives are to compare the production of leafy vegetables (based on weight, number of leaves and the height of the plants) using the hydroponics techniques of Floating medium and Solid medium (sand/paddy and charcoal).

The trials also aim at testing the efficiency/efficacy of three (3) different hydroponics formulations namely: a formulation from the University of California, the La Molina Fertilizer Solution and the ECAG Hydroponics Fertilizer Solution.

IICA is providing the technical personnel and materials for these trials with the IICA Technician supervising the setting up of all aspects of the trials and monitoring the progress of the trials and lending other technical support as deemed relevant.NARI is providing the space for trials and labour inputs and has assigned an agro-technician who has responsibility for daily maintenance of the trial plots and daily collection of relevant data as outlined by the trial proposal.

At a recent gathering at Mahdia, Field Assistant of IICA Mr Jermaine Joseph told the participants that Hydroponics technology has commanded a lot of attention and generated even more interest in Guyana after the 2005 floods on the Coast Lands.

The system consists of the cultivation of plants in nutrient liquid solutions rather than soil as well as solid medium (sand/paddy and charcoal).

It is suited for areas where land is unavailable due to flooding; limited as in urban areas; unsuitable for normal gardening due to topography or climate, or degraded as in mined out areas.

Plants raised in a hydroponic system exhibit more yield, flavour, vitamin and essential oil content than those grown traditionally ie: on garden beds.

Containers for hydroponic gardening can be either a pond or small containers such as buckets, bottles, basins or old tyres.

Because of the nature of the cultivation of the plants in containers, and even indoors or under a shed, the method of food production is not susceptible to flooding or any other unusual weather patterns.

There is no need for arduous tasks such as land preparation or weeding.

Hydrophonics facilitates families with little or no yard space and it provides children and family members an opportunity to utilize their free time productively .

Due to its non-labour intensive characteristics, it also provides persons of old age and physical or mental disabilities the opportunity of being productively involved and feeling useful and valuable to the community and themselves.

The IICA/ NARI collaboration to obtain locally generated data for hydroponics, started in September and will conclude this year end.

And a manual based on best practices as observed will be available for the public shortly thereafter.