Adish aims to grow vegetables in the off-season by using hydroponic and aquaponic systems.
Adish began growing tomatoes hydroponically in 2017 until his crop was overcome by pests which led to crop failure.
With Aggie Global’s consultancy, Adish is implementing crop rotations to prevent pest and disease outbreak. Through consultancy, Adish is able to interpret water pH, the concentration of dissolved oxygen and EC whilst understanding their relationships with plant nutrients and health. This enables him to make informed management decisions to manage his resources and improve production efficiency
After a month of one-on-one consultancy, Adish has begun selling his hydroponically grown tomatoes at New World Market in Suva. This is an accomplishment for Adish as he is now gaining revenue by selling to a supermarket that requires large volumes of high quality produce throughout the year.
Adish enjoys experimenting with new farming techniques. Adish is currently using a biogas digestor to obtain a sustainable source of energy for home cooking. Waste is put into the biogas digester where food scraps are broken down to produce gas. The gas is then used for household cooking whilst solid and liquid by-products from the biogas digestor are used as a fertiliser for his crops. In this way Adish has created useful products from resources that are usually thought of as waste
Adish started his hydroponics system with a Nutrient Film Technique (NFT) hydroponics system. However, due to limited yields, Adish has created a flood and drain system in one of his greenhouses. The flood and drain system allows him to grow larger plants hydroponically.
He has built a fish pond to begin aquaponics and grow tilapia fish for himself, workers and community. The water from the fish pond is then used in his flood and drain system to fertilise his tomatoes.
Adish aims to create a closed-loop farming system, where he can reuse and recycle ‘waste’ products on his farm. This system finds value in all available resources and gives back to the environment in any way it can. In the future, Adish hopes to use his farm as a demonstration site for local farmers to learn about new technologies that can help farmers improve yields.
