These days many farmers are leaving farming and switching to other professions because of lack of financial security. Many of them are not well equipped with the modern farming techniques and still use traditional methods. They have to face many setbacks, climatic change being one of the most common challenge.
On the other hand, many fruits and vegetables are imported from other countries and the people give good prices for them willingly. These foreign fruits and vegetables can not be grown everywhere as they require a special atmosphere and soil.
However, as the new generation of farmers are entering this profession, they are bringing in modern farming techniques, which can help in growing foreign fruits and vegetables in our country as well. This is helping the farmers make huge profits. And here is Ajay Naik, a farmer who is using soilless farming technique to earn millions.
Bid goodbye to IT job
Ajay, who lives in Bangalore, Karnataka, is a software engineer by profession and worked in a software firm in Goa for a few years. Later, he decided to do something of his own. Finally, in 20;11, he quit his job and began his startup that created mobile applications. His startup became successful and he started earning millions.
But Ajay had something else in his mind. He came across the concept of soilless farming scientifically known as Hydroponic technique. It is commonly called water farming or farming without soil. This technique replaces soil with rich mineral water along with wood fillings, pebbles or sand.
Hydroponic Technique
Typically, plants get their nutrition from the mineral-rich soil but in this technique, a special solution is provided which has all the essential nutrients necessary for plant growth. All the necessary minerals and nutrients are added to the solution time-to-time for proper growth. In fact, only a few drops concentrated nutrient solutions are needed to be added once in a month for plant growth.
Wood fillings, pebbles or sand are used to provide mechanical support to the plants. The right proportion of nitrogen, phosphorus, potash, magnesium, calcium, sulfur, zinc, iron, etc. are added to make the concentrated solution that gives all the necessary nutrients to the plants.
Ajay was highly impressed and decided to gain more knowledge regarding this technique. After further research, he came to know that he can produce foreign fruits and vegetables in our country itself with this technique. Instead of importing them, we can provide fresh fruits and vegetables to the customers at a much lower price.
Sold company for farming
Ajay was very impressed with his findings and made up his mind to adopt the farming technique. He wanted to start his own hydroponic firm but did not have the required fund. So he sold his well-established app making company to a German firm. With this money, he launched his own hydroponic firm along with six of his friends in Karaswada, Goa where foreign fruits and vegetables are produced in Indian climate through soilless farming technique.
After opening his firm, Ajay got more in-depth knowledge about this technique. In his farm, he started using Nutrient Film Technique (NFT) technique to grow foreign leafy vegetables used primarily in salads such as lettuce, celery, etc (known as exotic vegetables in Indian market). These vegetables are making huge profits.
Ajay plans to expand his business by producing other foreign fruits and vegetables by using different scientific techniques. He launched his second startup Letcetra in Bengaluru.
Currently, he is producing capsicum and strawberry as well as lettuce, celery, spinach, etc. in his farm. These vegetables are also sold in open market and because of higher quality, these fruits and vegetables have high demand.
He is setting an example for those who do not consider farming as a profitable business. You just need to keep yourself updated with the latest techniques and methods to attain success. It is very important to move ahead ands look up to new things.
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