Co-Founder Of Vegethentic Farm Ngwako Sekhula Explains How Hydroponic Farming Can Assist SA Farmers
Co-Founder Of Vegethentic Farm Ngwako Sekhula Explains How Hydroponic Farming Can Assist SA Farmers. There are a lot of problems that farmers face in their industry, this is due to many factors that can affect crop and yield quality. In an interview with eNCA co-founder of Vegethentic Farm Ngwako Sekhula explained how Hydroponic Farming can assist SA farmers.
He said, “So what happened was that we’d visited various farmers around Polokwane so we realised that most of them have challenges with water scarcity, since we know that South Africa has an average rainfall of 469mm compared to the global average which is slightly higher which at around 860mm. So what happens was that most farmers are the mercy of the unpredictable temperature and climate so they usually have challenges which forces some of them to be discouraged and end up quitting farming, so we wanted to solve the issue and we had to find the solution and we had to make sure that the solution is sustainable and it’s going or be relevant in the future.”
He believes that the solution that they are providing is going to help farmers who are having water problems to find ways that they can farm viable. This is because the farm would be generating more income when their solution is implemented. The farm trusts Hydroponic farming and they attest that this method of farming can help farmers who are in areas where is a shortage of water.
Hydroponics is a type of horticulture and a subset of hydroculture which involves growing plants usually crops without soil, by using mineral nutrient solutions in an aqueous solvent. Hydroponics offers many advantages, notably a decrease in water usage in agriculture. When the usage of water is decreased, farmers who are in areas where there is a shortage of water can carry on with their farming without worrying about water shortages.
