AEROPONIC TECHNOLOGY FOR FOOD SECURITY IN INDIA
Abstract
After India takes over from China for the rest of this and the following century as the most populous country in the world from 2030 with 152 crore people and 170 crore by 2050, the gargantuan task ahead would be to secure food for this estimated populace which by no standards could be considered a trivial issue. While India can certainly lay claim to the availability of most arable land area in the world, that fact alone cannot satiate the food requirements of its citizenry particularly when seen in the context of the undernourished children across the diverse sections of the society. All the same, what is needed is to go beyond the traditional geoponics and embrace the modern aeroponics (from Greek aer, “air” and ponos “labour”), which is the process of growing plants in multiple layers (also called vertical farming) without soil and/or sunlight in an enclosed environment utilising sophisticated LED lighting controlled by fully-automated and/or programmable technology. This research paper describes a novel approach to plant cultivation under soilless culture while delving at reviewing the current and projected population growth of India, conceptual evolution of aeroponics, the strength of state-of-the-art technology, and concludes by suggesting the domains where aeroponic technology could be implemented supported by judicious policy- making.
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