Vertical Farming Market Size Will Cross 13 Billion USD By 2024, Sanjay Sudan, Director, Saveer Biotech

Saveer Biotech is India’s leading group that has worked for vertical farming techniques in India.They believe that urban farming and technologies like Hydroponics may bring a new frontier to India’s agrarian production. Sanjay Sudan, Director of Saveer biotech speaks with BW Businessworld and shares the market potential.

What is the opinion of Saveer Biotech for traditional agrarian practices and any possible mix of modern soil-less techniques? Can it bring some new dimension to grain production as well?

Traditional agrarian practices are sustainable, for example, organic agriculture was in regular practice in India till early 1900.

In traditional agriculture, since the last few decades, much emphasis was given in developing new high yielding hybrid varieties of various crops as against the development of new agronomic practices, development of higher nutritive and pest disease-resistant varieties and adoption of appropriate micro-irrigation systems. More emphasis should have been given to reduce the cost of production in conjunction with the application of modern agronomical techniques. Thus, the inclusion of the efficient use of water, fertilizers, and natural resources with maintaining good soil health should be the core activities in developing the traditional agrarian practices of modern agriculture.

The first fertilizer factory opened at Ranipet, Tamil Nadu in 1906. Prior to 1960-61, India produced only straight nitrogenous fertilizers; ammonium sulphate (AS), urea, calcium ammonium nitrate (CAN), ammonium chloride and single superphosphate (SSP).

The production of NP complex fertilizers commenced in 1960/61. Currently, India produces a large number of grades of Nitrogen phosphorus (NP) / Nitrogen phosphorus potassium (NPK) complex fertilizer. Similarly, the first use of synthetic pesticide ‘D.D.T’ in India was in 1948-49 and since then hundreds of pesticides including dirty dozen have been used enormously causing problems of pesticide residues and environmental pollution.

Saveer Biotech believes that use of soil-less techniques especially for producing the seedlings can contribute significantly to the production of quality planting material which is in dire need in India. Farmers usually raise nurseries in open and have to face ravines of nature like heavy rains, storms, unusually high or low temperatures etc. With the result, if he loses the nursery he is left with no other option other than to go in for the seedlings whatever is available in the open market. He has no control over the variety and quality as he cannot leave his land without a crop which is season bound so he is compelled to plant the seedlings available from the market.

When the seed and the seedlings have good physical, physiological, health and genetic qualities, farmers have greater prospects of producing a good crop. High-quality seed and seedling is a major factor in obtaining a good crop stand and rapid plant development even under adverse conditions although other factors such as rainfall, agronomic practices, soil fertility, and pest control are also crucial.

India enjoys more than 27 climate zones. Does it pose a challenge to artificial climate creation? Or it is helpful in better R&D?

In fact, diverse climatic zones which India represents offers a tremendous growth potential for crop production. Every climatic zone has some strengths and certain weaknesses. The strengths need to be worked on well so as to harness good returns for the crops and the weakness needs to be addressed by applied research to overcome it. For example, if in any zone we do not have soil suited for crop production, we can work out a hydroponic crop production model to overcome the suitable soil constraint of the area. Similarly, many technologies can be adopted for adopting in artificial climate creation in greenhouses.

What will be the possible market size of urban farming in revenue terms?

Urban agriculture has the potential to become a vibrant economic sector that quickly adapts to changing conditions and demands, intensifying its productivity and diversifying its functions for the city. Its future will depend on its contributions to the development of a sustainable and resilient city that is inclusive, food-secure, productive and healthy, thus establishing food-smart cities. The size can be judged by the rapid expansion of cities and peri-urban areas. Even for suburban areas, the figures are very bright. The Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) sector in rural and semi-urban India is estimated to cross USD 100 billion by 2025. The rural FMCG market is anticipated to expand at a CAGR of 17.41 per cent to USD 100 billion during 2009 to 2025.

A Vertical Farming Market size worth over USD13 billion by 2024 and also the Vertical Farming Market size will cross USD 13 billion by 2024, according to a new research report by Global Market Insights, Inc.

The vertical farming market is relatively providing the impetus for growth in the indoor farming sector due to the advent of LED lights and growth mechanism such as aeroponics, hydroponics etc. Low labour costs, the location of vertical farms closer to consumer bases, accessibility to fresh produce, zero pesticides usage are the key market dynamics sprouting up the growth.

Polyhouses or specialized greenhouses require a healthy one-time investment. Is this is a myth?

We cannot say it is a myth because polyhouse or specialized greenhouse is a facility installed for the specific purpose of growing a specific crop usually high-value crop or an off-season crop for harnessing better market returns reducing the uncertainties which a grower has to face in open field cultivation. For any industry also we require one-time healthy investment and the investment is distributed over the expected lifespan in order to estimate working profits.

Every facility has lifespan which depends upon the material used and the care taken for the facility during the operational phase. For example, a polyhouse installed with quality material should last for seven years but if miner troubles like slight cut in polyethylene cover are not addressed promptly the life can be shorter or render the structure useless

Government is pushing for Paramparagat Krishi (traditional agriculture). Would it become difficult for modern techniques or can they go hand in hand?

A mix of Paramparagat Krishi (traditional agriculture) in a combination of modern innovative technologies will be a great thing for India agriculture.

According to a 2013 study conducted by the International Federation of Organic Agricultural Movements (IFOAM), there are about two million farmers across the globe who practice organic farming methods and roughly 80 percent of these farms are in India. It wouldn’t be wrong to assume that our country is at the centre of an organic revolution that is set to take the world by storm. Certified or not, the abundance of organic farms in India is certainly not surprising since it is only a continuation of the age-old farming practices followed by our ancestors.

Paramparagat Krishi envisages basically few highly important areas:

Promotion of commercial organic production through certified organic farming. The produce will be pesticide residue free and will contribute to improving the health of the consumer. It will raise farmer's income and create a potential market for traders. It will motivate the farmers for natural resource mobilization for input production.

For every objective of the scheme, there is the great scope of the innovative technologies to make it happen. For instance- For producing pesticide-free food we have to use botanicals and other organic formulations for the pest control which are developed by Innovative technologies -For raising crops by Paramparagat Krishi the organic inputs have to be there, to develop that there is vast scope for the modern technologies to offer

Hydroponics is known for higher yields but is restricted to horticulture. Can it be generalized?

Yes, it has scope in other areas also, for example, hydroponic fodder which guarantees round the year production of fresh fodder for animals, the cascading effect of availability of such nutritious on the health and production of the animals is enormous. The medicinal and aromatic plants which are rare and in high demand in the market can be produced by the technology for high returns.

Is there any possibility for sericulture and hydroponics to prosper together?

For immediate nature, the technology is not been used for producing mulberry leaves needed for the production of silk in mulberry industry. Research for such varieties which can be grown in the hydroponic system may provide some solutions.

What will be the major challenges to plant pheonomics in India?

As Plant Phenomics concerns root phenotyping which is a critical component for crop improvement, but no ideal hardware solution has been developed yet even in developed countries. There is always a compromise between destructive and non-destructive measurement, throughput and resolution, and ultimately, cost.

In addition to grain crops, this technology also helps in advancing research in root and tuber crops such as potato, groundnut and others that are important for food security in India around the world but are especially hard to study.

The challenge in India is majorly about the cost of the facility, its upkeep and the technical acumen of the researchers who undertake such projects especially in a state funded institution as the researchers after some time may be transferred or shifted to other places and the new incumbent faces lot many problems as the operations are specialized, so proper technical training about the working and interpretation of data and continuity will be a major challenge for such facilities to meet the objectives in India.