Kerala Horticultural Mission plans to purchase and distribute Arka Vertical Garden structures to individuals living in urban areas across the state in order to enhance urban farming.
To initially promote it, urban residents of Ernakulam and Thiruvananthapuram were selected. The Arka Vertical Garden has been created by the Indian Institute of Horticultural Research (IIHR) in Bengaluru. IIHR has stated that it is ready to donate the technology to the state government. Once the technology is transferred, the government horticultural mission wants to create local structures with the support of the cooperative companies. In the first phase, the mission intends to supply 330 units to urban families in Ernakulam and Thiruvananthapuram.
The lack of space for farming is a concern for those who live in urban areas, and this vertical garden The chassis was expressly designed to address this problem.
This structure is excellent for producing vegetables in a safe and convenient way for the needs of the family. Such constructions can be placed in areas with a lot of sunlight, such as a balcony or patio. Vegetables, medicinal plantsFlower crops can be grown in these structures.
The three basic components are the primary skeleton, the primary central support, and branches with pots or growth bags. As a growing medium, soil or coconut peat in pots can be used. This building takes up very little space, as it can fit into an area of u200bu200bone square meter.
Plants that require more growing media and that reach more than 2 feet in height, such as tomatoes, peppers, peas, and brinjal, can be placed near the base of the structure. on the upper floors, leafy vegetables Medicinal plants such as brahmi, budina, mint, etc. can be produced.
The plants are watered using a 25-liter plastic container with microtubes and drips at the top of the building. In one season, five kilograms of crops can be collected (depending on what kind of crops we grow).
support urban agriculture
The cost of the vertical structure of the garden is 20,000 rupees, and the government horticultural mission will give a 75 percent subsidy for the initial period. The unit will include 16 containers, and when the consumer buys a chassis, they will get all the basic commodities, including fertilizer and seeds.
“We bought ten units of IHR on a trial basis and placed two of them on top of our office in Thiruvananthapuram. Some pipes in the structure were broken during transportation, which is why we decided to build it locally with the help of cooperatives such as Kerala Agro Industries Corporation Limited (KAIC), Raidco and others. We purchase a unit for Rs 19,400 from IHR, at a transportation cost of Rs 1,000 per unit A total of Rs 20,400 is required to purchase a unit Sindhu N Panicker, Joint Director of Agriculture (Government Horticultural Mission), said the customer would be able to purchase a unit against Rs 5,000 because the state and central governments will divide the support costs in a ratio of 40:60.
It further stated that the International Institute for Human Rights had shown willingness to transfer the technology for Rs 5,800 and that government co-operative institutions had shown interest in purchasing it. “KAIC and Raico ask for Rs 22,000 per unit.” It’s a little higher, and we’re in the process of negotiating with them,” said Sind.
It has been praised by many residents’ welfare groups and has expressed a desire to work with the government’s Horticultural Mission to promote it. Gopalakrishnan B, President of Netaji Residents Association, Ernakulam.