The document discusses the issues of global hunger and food insecurity. It notes that the Global Hunger Index comprehensively measures hunger globally using three indicators: undernourishment, child underweight rates, and child mortality. India ranks poorly on the index despite rapid economic growth due to factors like increasing population, urbanization, land usage for industry, decreased agricultural labor, climate issues, and lack of adoption of new technologies by farmers. The document argues that technology is the key to overcoming these external factors and that urban agriculture using hydroponics can help address hunger by making more efficient use of scarce resources like land, water and labor.

2. Today. Now, Take some time and think,
What would you do without food?
How will it be if there are no more land to grow, no more water to pour and
no more farmers to plough?
What if we have all the money in the world but no food to eat?
How long can we live without food?
What will just happen to the world?
The world will come to a stand still. Period.
Don’t worry, we will not experience this. Our Children will, our children’s children
definitely will.
“We Do Not Inherit the Earth from Our Ancestors; We Borrow It from Our
Children.”

3. We have done and doing enough damage to the place where we live. We call the place
we live as home. Imagine you damage your home as you live, where will your children
live? Are we that selfish?
Yes, we are.
It’s time for us to give back our home. It’s time for us to take care of our home so that we
can live a happy life generations after generations. Let’s green up the place we live.
Let’s make ourselves sustainable so that we can give a beautiful place to our children
and not the otherwise.
Let’s not be selfish. Let’s make an effort. Let’s take sometime, some energy and a little
money from our usual lifestyles and invest it back into our home. Because, If not for this
home, we wouldn’t be even existing.

6. THE PROBLEM

7. •The Global Hunger Index (GHI) is a tool designed to
comprehensively measure and track hunger globally and by
region and country.
•It is calculated each year by the International Food Policy
Research Institute (IFPRI), the GHI highlights successes and
failures in hunger reduction and provides insights into the
drivers of hunger.

8. The GHI combines three equally weighted indicators in one
index:
1. Undernourishment:
The proportion of undernourished people as a percentage of
the population (reflecting the share of the population with
insufficient caloric intake).
2. Child underweight:
The proportion of children younger than age five who are
underweight (that is, have low weight for their age, reflecting
wasting, stunted growth, or both), which is one indicator of child
under nutrition.
3. Child mortality:
The mortality rate of children younger than age five (partially
reflecting the fatal synergy of inadequate calorie intake and
unhealthy environments)

9. The GHI ranks countries on a 100-point scale in which zero is
the best score (no hunger) and 100 the worst
•Why should I know about it?
•Hydroponics? What exactly is that?
•How is it possible to grow without soil?
•How will the plant get its nutrients and
support?
•Is it natural?
•Is it simple to learn and practice?
•What are the pros and cons of this technique?

10. INDIA
Global Hunger Index ranking – 65th
Latest GHI score (2012) – 22.9
According to International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), India has gone
through a rapid economic development over the years, but Hunger is still a major
concern. This is very unusual as a rapidly developing economy fails to provide
strong food security.
WHY?
- Constant increase in population.
- Urbanization
- Usage of land for industrial purposes
- Decrease in people involved in agriculture
- Harsh climatic conditions
- Water problems
- Decrease in fertility of Soil
- Increase in Costs
- Reluctant to adapt to new technology by conventional growers.

12. Population
Urbanization
Industrialization
Harsh Climatic
Condition
Man power
Land
Fertility of Soil
Availability of
water
LACK OF
TECHNOLOGY
Less Produce for the rapidly growing population due to
uncontrollable factors leading to increase in prices.
Cost

13. TECHNOLOGY is the key.
The analysis of the above flow chart infers the following
The missing piece of the puzzle is the right technology. Everything has been
constantly changing except the technology. Other factors are external, and
cannot be controlled by a grower. For example, a grower cannot control the
population of the region or cannot have control over urbanization. These factors
are something that is beyond the grower’s scope. But TECHNOLOGY is
something we can use to overcome these problems. There is an urgent need to
combine TECHNOLOGY WITH AGRICULTURE. A Technology which is better
than conventional techniques, clean, non-polluting, sustainable, easy to learn
and practice and cheap.

14. EXTERNAL FACTORS
Increasing population
Increasing urbanization
Increasing cost
Increasing industrialization
Harsh Climatic conditions
Decreasing land
Decreasing human resource
Decreasing fertility of the soil
Decreasing water
INTERNAL FACTOR
THE RIGHT
TECHNOLOGY
SOLUTION

15. States can and must achieve a
reorientation of their agricultural systems
towards modes of production that
contribute to the progressive realization
of the human right to adequate food.
- Olivier De Schutter, United Nations
Special Rapporteur on the right to food.

16. CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE.

17. THE SOLUTION

18. URBAN AGRICULTURE
•Urban agriculture is the practice of
cultivating, processing, and distributing food in or around a
village, town, or city. Urban agriculture can also involve animal
husbandry, aquaculture, agro forestry, and horticulture.
•Urban farming is generally practiced for income-earning or
food-producing activities, though in some communities the
main impetus is recreation and relaxation.
•Urban agriculture contributes to food security and food
safety as it increases the amount of fresh vegetables, fruits and
meat products available to people living in cities. It
decreases food deserts.

19. Socially it
•Helps bring families and communities together by working toward a common goal
that will be beneficial for all.
•Gives direct links to food production
•Creates better living environment by greening up the city and making it more
productive
•Makes people stronger by putting their food security into their own hands, making
them more independent and empowered
•Teaches people life skills such as how to be more self sufficient
•Creates jobs, income, and food
•Helps combat hunger
•Educate people, who have been increasingly removed from food production, to
participate in, and respect, its generation.

20. Environmentally it:
•Greens up the city
•Can help to clean air and rain water
•increases the amount of food grown and bought locally, decreasing carbon footprint
•Facilitates reuse of wastes for food production
•Has direct impacts on urban ecology
Economically it:
•Creates jobs and income from otherwise completely unproductive space
•Can be beneficial to people of any income
•Creates a better local economy that does not rely on food from far away
•Makes use of valuable resources, such as compost, that would otherwise go to waste in
a city

21. THE TECHNOLOGY

22. An employee harvests veggies grown inside an office "urban farm" in Tokyo.
The Pasona Group, an employment and staffing company, established the
growing area to foster a work environment that "coexists with nature."

23. HYDROPONICS
(SOIL-LESS CULTIVATION)

24. Hydroponics is derived from
Greek words Hydro (water)
and Ponos (labor), literally
means “water working”. For
easy
understanding, Hydroponics
simply means working with
water.

25. HOW DOES IT WORK?
Soil has two broad and major role in plant’s growth.
- Acts as a Support to the plants
- Acts as a Nutrient holder
Soil is a mere holder of nutrients required for the plants. A similar and a better
environment can be provided to the plants by using different substrates.
Hydroponics is a technique of using different substrates that are better than soil in
terms of porosity and moisture retaining capacity like coco peat, rice husk, saw
dust, etc. And feeding the nutrients through water.
Since, the plants are fed the required nutrients in the exact quantity which soil
fails to provide, It grows to its maximum genetic potential.

26. HYDROPONICS

27. SCARCE RESOURCES
LAND
WATER
As hydroponic plants get the same nutrient treatment, there is
no root zone conflict between plants for the nutrients. Hence
reduces the space between two plants.
Hydroponics uses substrates that are better than soil. For eg.
Coco peat – Coco peat is nothing but coconut fiber– a
byproduct of coir industry. It is known for its porosity and
moisture holding capacity. It can hold moisture longer than
soil. This reduces the need for more water. In hydroponics, the
nutrient water can be recycled. Hydroponics reduces the need
for water by 75-90% compared to conventional growing
SOIL
Fertility of the soil is irrelevant in hydroponics.
Therefore, any land is a cultivable land. There is nothing
called waste land in hydroponics.
HUMAN
RESOURCES
Hydroponic needs constant care like any other garden. But
amount of man power required is lesser than conventional
growing.

28. OTHER BENEFITS
•No weeds
•No need for pesticides
•Clean growing
•High yield in less space
•Does not pollute the environment
•Nutrients are earth mined (natural), processed chemicals that are completely soluble
in water leaving no residue.
•Can have control over the plants
•High nutrition value yield
•Hydroponic plants are healthier, produce more, grow faster in less space with less
water than conventionally grown plants.
•No chemical traces in the produce. Healthy and fresh produce.

29. OTHER BENEFITS
Cheaply and locally available substrates.
Can be grown vertically.
Sustainable in nature
Can use scrap materials to grow.

30. HYDROPONICS
IN
URBAN AGRICULTURE

31. Lets go back….
EXTERNAL FACTORS
Increasing population
Increasing urbanization
Increasing cost
Increasing industrialization
Harsh Climatic conditions
Decreasing land
Decreasing human resource
Decreasing fertility of the soil
Decreasing water
Urban Area,
You and me
INTERNAL FACTOR
THE RIGHT
TECHNOLOGY
SOLUTION
Hydroponics
Urban
Cultivation

32. Your home, your terrace, your balcony, your window and your kitchen garden
is the future farm.
Imagine. Each one of us start using the little space we have in our
homes, collectively we will be doing a massive, massive agricultural activity in
acres of land spread across the city.
Imagine. The amount of veggies, herbs and flowers we will be producing. In tones.
Imagine. How green the city will look? How much of fresh oxygen will we be
pumping into the city?
Imagine. If we contribute just one kilogram of what ever we grow in our
places, collectively, how many hungry and poor stomach could be fed?
Imagine. How will it be to give lives to plants, nurture them and grow them like a
child and see them blossom and fruit? Peaceful and noble work.
Imagine. Plucking a fresh tomato you grew and using it in your salad.
Imagine. Spending a little time, energy and money in doing a noble work.
Imagine. Making this a part of your lifestyle and feel good about it all the time.

33. Start growing in a waste coca cola bottle. That’s what it
takes.
Learn the art of growing without soil.
Grow your own.
Eat your own.
Stay healthy.
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