Hydroponics - Soilless Cropping System, a Panacea to Perennial Nomadic - Fulani and Crops Farmers Conflicts in Nigeria?

Hydroponics - Soilless Cropping System, a Panacea to Perennial  Nomadic - Fulani and Crops Farmers Conflicts in Nigeria?

An introductory topic of agriculture taught at primary school level is that plants need "light, water and soil" to grow. Do the plants really need soil to grow? with the recent technical innovations, this seemingly simple question is proving difficult to answer because of  a crops production technique called Hydroponics "soilless cropping system".  It is a new practice of growing plants without soil. This growing of plants in a nutrient solution root medium, is a growing area of commercial food production. The process may include sand, gravel, rock wool or liquid, with added nutrients but without the use of soil.

Hydroponics is the new way of planting beautiful plants at the limited space of farmer's home or backyard. Through this technique, a farmer doesn't need to worry about using soil, which is a necessary for the conventional plantation method. It is indeed the better option for people who love to garden beautiful plants inside their homes. You can now grow different types of vegetables, herbs. Fruits on your personal garden. Usually, the stems of the plants derive its oxygen from the water and soil while receiving energy from sunrays.

Hydroponics involves supplying the required amount of nutrients to plant, when needed and as healthy as genetically possible. With hydroponics, nutrients are easily and efficiently provided to the plants while in the traditional use of soil it is more difficult and inefficient.  Similarly, with Hydroponics the plants are grown in an inert growing medium and a perfectly balanced pH adjusted nutrient solution is delivered to the roots in a highly soluble form. The use of the nutrient solution permits the plant to easily uptake nutrients as opposed to when the crops are planted in the soil where they would have to search and extract the nutrients while dissipating energy. Thus, plant saves energy in hydroponic system from nutrient intake thereby using it  into vegetative growth, fruit formation and flower production. The nutrient solution is the combination of water and fertilizers, with the farmers getting to dictate how much and of which nutrients they wish to give to the plants. Generally, fertilizers applied for both hydroponic and soil plantation contain the same three major nutrients; nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. In addition, hydroponic fertilizers contain the proper amounts of all the essential micro-nutrients and are usually in a more refined form with lesser impurities as opposed to soil fertilizers. Soilless;  means crop is not planted in soil, thus, no weeds or soil borne pests and diseases. Therefore, plants maintain optimum nutrient and moisture levels in hydroponic system, which offer several benefits: healthier plants, faster growing plants and ability to be more disease resistant as plants are not stressed by drought. The root systems stay smaller on hydroponically grown plants, so the plant can concentrate and uses its energy on producing plant mass, rather than roots. This allows the grower to have more plants per square meter of growing a space. Hydroponically grown plants never get root bound, so they do not need repotting. Hydroponic produce has a longer shelf life than soil-grown produce. Hydroponics is clean. In addition, plants grown in hydroponic system taste better than plants grown in the traditional method of using soil. Quite often this is the case because the plants grown utilizing hydroponics have all the essential nutrients readily available to the plant. In soil the important micro nutrients are often locked away in the soil where the plants cannot take full advantage of these minerals. That is why hydroponics is superior because the grower has complete control over what minerals the plants are feeding on and in what quantities. This advantage permits production of food crop that is far superior in taste, color, size, and nutritional value. The merits for hydroponic system are in exhaustive;  they include reduced water usage, marginal land use,  reduced growth time, reduced labour requirement, cost effective and completely natural. Despite these advantages, hydroponic system is not a perfect system; unfortunately there are few disadvantages in growing fodder in such a controlled, humid, moist environment. Some of the problems that affect the yield production are mould, bacteria and fungi. However, these problems are addressed through –  sterilizing the grains surface to eliminate any mould spores on the grain. In addition, the  surfaces in the growing area can be Sterilized with chlorine or iodine. Make provision for excellent shed ventilation as well as use of sufficient and the correct ratio balance of nutrients in the watering of the plants. No doubt, Hydroponics - the science of growing plants in nutrient-rich solutions instead of soil - has proven itself to be efficient both financially and environmentally. It is indeed the newest and fastest way to grow plants and vegetables, such as lettuce, tomatoes, carrots, celery, watercress eggplants, beans, parsley, wild radish, leeks, strawberries, melons, aromatic, medicinal plants and animal fresh feeds.

The hydroponic system requires a fraction of the water usage of conventional farming while still supplying high quality food crops.  Example, it takes between 1 to 2 litres of water to produce one kilo of fodder as compared with 80 – 90 litres of water to grow a kilo of green grass.

There are many types of crops that can be grown hydroponically. Grains such as oats, barley, wheat, sorghum and corn have all been tried. Similarly, vegetables such as pepper, tomatoes, onions, cucumber can be produced using hydroponic system. However, the major interest here is the production of fodder hydroponically to complement the feeds of cattle and other large ruminant animals in order to address perennial conflicts between Nomadic - Fulani and farmers in Nigeria. The growing of fodder using soil-less growing system is a new concept to Nigeria, although this system has been in use for decades elsewhere and it used for the supply of a wide range of livestock types for many different purposes in varying living environments. It is a well-known technique for high fodder yield, year round production with less water consumption. Fodder produced hydroponically has a short growth period of 7-10 days and requires only a small piece of land for production to take place. It has high feed quality, rich with proteins, fibers, vitamins, and minerals with therapeutic effects on animals. These special features of hydroponic culture, in addition to others make it one of the most important agricultural techniques currently in use for green forage production in many countries especially in arid and semi-arid regions. Hydroponic fodder production involves supplying cereal grain with necessary moisture and nutrients, to enable germination and plant growth in the absence of a solid growing medium. The resulting green shoots and root mat are harvested and fed to livestock. The grain responds to the supply of moisture and nutrients by germinating, sprouting and then producing a 150 – 250 mm long vegetative green shoot with interwoven roots within 7 to 10 days.   Wheat harvested as feed and hay is a significant source of forage for livestock producers in most arid and semi-arid regions because it can be an inexpensive and readily available feed source. Forage wheat has good yield and has been found to have higher nutritive value and lower fiber concentration than other small grains. An impressive result was obtained from the undergraduate project of A. S. Murtala of Agricultural Engineering Department, ABU Zaria who investigated the quality of wheat fodder grown hydroponically for animal feeds. The results indicated that one kilogram of seed (wheat) produced an average of 5.36kg of fodder thus, making wheat as one of the crops that gave high fodder yield and used water efficiently. With good management of the hydroponic system, some farmers were able to obtain 7 – 10kg of edible fodder for every 1kg of grain seed.

In Nigeria, hydroponic farming is making inroad into the Nigerian farming system as technology validation trials among the research centres and adapted by elite farmers. National Agricultural Extension and Research Liaison Services (NAERLS) is among the research centres actively working on hydroponic system. There are many other organizations promoting the hydroponic technology in Nigeria (http://www.hydroponicsnigeria.com, www.notafog2016.com and http://bicfarmsconcepts.com/abeokuta-hydroponics/). These organizations provide training opportunities to interested individuals and corporate bodies.

The possibility of fodder production has been elaborately explained. However, can the use of hydroponic system be a viable method of addressing Fulani -  farmers conflict and find a lasting solution? Concerted effort by Fodder Green Technologies Group is geared towards the use of hydroponic technology for mass production of fodder as feeds for cattle. Already memorandum of understanding (MOU) was drafted between the group and Miyetti Allah, a formidable socio-cultural group of Nomadic Fulani in Nigeria. Is there light at the end of the tunnel? (To be continued next week)