Ebb and Flow involves flooding the plant tray with the nutrient solution using a pump that is connected to the solution tank at given time intervals with the use of a timer. The solution is later drained back to the nutrient tank. Adoption of hydroponics in East African countries like: Uganda and Tanzania, where this technology might offer a profitable agri-business and food security solution for urban dwellers by tapping into the growing demand for local produce, is still very low.It is likely to be more complicated to provide sufficient food for the fast-growing population using traditional agriculture in future, therefore soil-less cultivation is the right substitute technology to adapt effectively.There has also been a lot of attention given to urban agriculture among researchers, scientists and the general public which calls for more attention into hydroponics as it is considered an urban farming technology. Based on the impasse of challenges presented by conventional farming practices, urbanization and the increasing urban population as well as the ability of hydroponics to tackle these challenges, this study focused on examining the status and perception of soilless farming in Central Uganda and Northern Tanzania as an alternative sustainable cropping system to increasing food security and agdribusiness opportunities around urbanand peri-urban areas. Focus was specifically put on a couple of influential factors majorly socio-economic and agricultural factors surrounding the urban and semi-urban farmers and farms practicing hydroponics in these countries. The study assessed and categorized the benefits,fodder sprouting system challenges and recommendations for enhancing the implementation of this technology. It focused specifically on vegetable production because research has shown vegetables to be one of the most easy-to-cultivate crops under hydroponics as earlier mentioned.
The study was carried out in the months of April-July 2021 in the urban and peri urban areas of Meru district located in Northern Tanzania and Wakiso district located in Central Uganda. Tanzania and Uganda are both located in East Africa and experience tropical climate conditions. Tanzania has an estimated population of 58 million while Uganda has approximately 44 million people. Northern Tanzania was selected as study site because it is one of the vegetable growing hot spots in the country and also has a couple of large hydroponic farms in the country while the Central Uganda was selected because it has majority of the urban and peri urban farmers engaging in soilless farming. A total of 150 farmers/firms/farms were identified using snowball sampling through farmers groups and recommendations from expert farmers and agricultural bodies. Only 51 participants who practice vegetable production soilless farming technology majorly hydroponics around urban and peri urban areas took part in the study. These participants included both farm owners of the hydroponic vegetable farms that as well as managers of firms that produce vegetables using hydroponics for either seed production or vegetables for sale.The biggest challenge reported was the high investment costs required to set up this high end technology especially for the fully automated greenhouse farms . This was also noted by Nicole et al. who identified high startup costs as a challenge for adoption of hydroponic farming technology. These costs include: greenhouse construction, costs of fertilizers, electricity for system installation, hydroponic equipment such as: PVC pipes, hydroponic net cups, climate monitoring systems among others. Artificial lighting, for instance through use of Light Emitting Diodes lights is sometimes deemed necessary for steady production making energy costs a key factor . The dependency on electricity is one of the factors that make hydroponics expensive . As earlier noted, majority of the farmers interested in the farming system adopted it at a small scale under non-controlled environments to cut down on the high initial costs needed for setting up the hydroponic units.
The development of low cost and easy to use hydroponic units will not only increase adoption of technology but also help farmers produce high quality vegetables . 22% of the farmers still reported that hydroponic farming requires enough technical knowledge which also continues to deter farmers from adopting the technology. For example: knowledge on the right amount of nutrients required for a particular crop, how to mix them, in what proportions and recycling. Majority of the respondents reported having learn about hydroponic farming using internet which further corelates with the high number of educated participants of the study. Controlled environment hydroponics requires some knowledge on how to run the climate control system within the green house for factors such as: humidity, temperature etc.… The need for technical knowledge for hydroponics such as: maintainace of PH and EC maintainance is one of the challenges of hydroponics . 6% of the farm operators who practiced hydroponics using high end technology such as: climate control systems accordingly reported a hitch related to maintainace of EC, PH and temperature of the nutrient solution and damage to crops in case of system failure. A failure or mismanagement of hydroponics can cause crop damage as also noted by Specht et al. who indicated that it is not sustainable if not well handled. 12% of the farmers stated that lack of adequate ideas or innovations on use of alternative locally available resources for hydroponic farming is a setback for the adoption of the farming system. For example: replacement of PVC pipes with buckets or bottles for growing hydroponic vegetables. Lack of adequate options of organic fertilizers for hydroponics in agricultural shops was another drawback surrounding hydroponics mentioned by approximately 20% of the respondents.
Other challenges reported by 9% were: bias from the community for hydroponic produce who consider them to be non-organic products, lack of variety of organic fertilizer alternatives and the timeliness needed by the system to avoid crop or system failure. Fig. 6 shows the drawbacks of hydroponic farming in Tanzania and Uganda. Fig. 7 reviews the advantages and disadvantages of hydroponic farming among urban and semi-urban farmers in Uganda and Tanzania while Fig. 8 further summarizes the recommendations made by the respondents which can assist increase the adoption of the technology among the two countries and Africa at large.Fresh green vegetation or fodder is an essential input that plays a significant role in animal feed. Fodder in the form of sprouted grains such as barley, wheat, maize, alfalfa, oats, millets, rye, sunflower seeds, and lentils can be grown in an environmentally controlled system. Commercial hydroponic fodder companies report that about 6-10 kg of fresh fodder could be produced from 1.0 kg grain within 7-10 days in controlled spaces with hydroponic techniques by providing suitable temperature, humidity, and light in the growing rooms. Hydroponic fodder production is a primitive technique that started in the 1800s or earlier. The basic principle for the hydroponic fodder system is that cereal grains respond to water or nutrients rich solutions for germination as well as growth to produce green plants in the short time of 6-9 days. This system has no chance of soil-borne insects, pests, disease attacks, and weed infestation because nutrients are directly fed to the roots and plants placed in trays of different dimensions. The interest in controlled environment fodder production is being revived due to the shortage of green fodder for livestock production in extreme climates. Also, water scarcity and food production needs on arable land motivate farmers to produce fodder in a controlled environment . Most Middle Eastern and African countries have a severe shortage of food supplies for livestock due to repeated drought and lack of water for irrigation. A recent report from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations indicates that global food production needs to be increased by about 60-70 % from the current levels to meet the increased food demand in 2050.
The livestock sector has made significant contributions to ensuring global food security. Milk consumption and meat production from livestock are increasing worldwide due to expanding the world population and better living standards. Worldwide milk consumption is expected to grow from 664 million tons by 2006 to 1077 million tons by 2050, and meat production will increase about twofold from 258 to 455 million tons. According to FAO, about 30% of world croplands are used for livestock feed production. Over 63% of arable land in the European Union produces animal feed instead of food for people. Fig. 1 shows the breakdown of global agricultural land use in pasturing, animal feed production, and human food. More than 70% of agricultural land is used for some aspects of livestock production, which contributes 14.5% of human-induced greenhouse gas emissions from feed production and enteric fermentation from ruminants. Therefore, fodder production in agricultural land is a conflicting issue in countries with food shortages; cereal grains, rice, oil seeds, and pulses on arable land are critical to ensure the food security of the increased population. An innovative approach for fodder production could have significant potential in reducing the carbon footprint in livestock production. Recent research showed that hydroponic fodder production in a shipping container could reduce GHG emissions by 7.4% compared with conventional farming for barley fodder production. A higher reduction could be achieved with improved seed-to-fodder output. The open field fodder production for livestock is disturbed by the abrupt climate changes and consumes ample water. The dry matter content and nutritive value of fodder could be reduced due to the temperature rise and increased CO2 concentration in the atmosphere from climate changes. Schlenker and Roberts reported that maximum maize production could be achieved at 29.0◦C, but a further increase in temperature hinders the maize productivity. Lobell and Field reported that maize production could be decreased by 8.3% with every 1.0◦C rise in temperature.
Easterling et al. reported that every 4◦C rise in temperature could cause a 34% reduction in wheat production. Also,microgreen fodder system the livestock sector accounts for about 8% of global human water use; and the trend of global temperature rise could increase livestock water consumption by about two to three times. Hydroponic fodder production systems could save a significant amount of water and reduce reliance on traditional arable production. Some studies reported that the same amount of fodder could be produced with 35-45% lower costs using 0.5% of growing spaces. The water-saving with hydroponic systems could be up to 95% compared with open field production. Also, the nutrient compositions of hydroponic fodder are relatively better than grounded/open-field systems. Most importantly, fresh green fodder for livestock could be supplied 365 days a year, even in extreme conditions like high northern latitudes and arid regions . Therefore, fodder production in CE settings is becoming popular in recent years in developed countries like the USA, Australia, and Canada. Fig. 2 shows the different CE facilities used for green fodder production, like low-tech poly-house, small-scale shipping containers, and large-scale production in warehouses with precise control of indoor environments. Controlled environment agriculture facilities with optimal temperature, relative humidity , water, and lighting can produce green fodder within six to ten days. CEFP is an energy-intensive approach for maintaining suitable thermal environments with heating, ventilation, air-conditioning , and artificial lighting with highly automated systems. Although hydroponically grown fodder is a highly nutritious feed, the costs could be two to five times higher for the same DM from the original grain. These high operating costs are primarily associated with the energy use for HVAC, lighting, and high capital costs for the automated CE growing systems. Although the concept of hydroponic fodder production is relatively old, very few research works have been published. A few research studies have been done on feeding fodder to dairy animals in the United States; most fodder research is conducted in Australia, India, and some Gulf countries. Most research has been undertaken on nutritional aspects and operating costs regarding DM contents of fodder production compared with original grains. A study reviewed the nutritional elements of hydroponic fodder and their impact on productivity for milk and meat. The study also analyzed the water use efficiency in hydroponic production compared with open-field production. Other studies have reviewed the basic fundamental of hydroponic fodder production and rationality from water conservation, land use, and minimal use of chemicals and its benefits for animal production. Singh et al. reviewed the challenges, opportunities, and status of fodder production in India, mostly covering the open field fodder production.