Until 2016, Pritpal Singh's family in Chandigarh had been cultivating wheat and paddy for 50 years.
"The culture of monocropping is prevalent in Punjab and Haryana where most families grow paddy and wheat throughout both Kharif and Rabi seasons. Sticking to specific crops year after year eventually leads to an increase in soil-borne diseases and substantially decreases the fertility of soil," he says.
"When I told my parents about my decision to pursue farming full-time, their first concern was also about the new approaches I wanted to try," adds the MBA graduate.
Pritpal went on to turn his ancestral farm into a thriving business with 25,000 green leafy plants such as lettuce and spinach flourishing in an 8,000 square-feet area. Every month, he harvests up to 800 kg of leafy greens, achieving five times the yield compared to conventional farming while using fewer resources.
This was possible due to the protected cultivation system of hydroponics where crops are grown without soil. "There are many soil borne diseases such as fungal and bacterial infections that affect crop yield. You cannot eliminate microorganisms and parasites like nematodes from the soil. So, I thought of eliminating soil itself as a medium altogether. I turned to hydroponics, which eliminates this worry," he explains.
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