Title: Unique Simplified Hydroponic For Swaziland Poor Subsistence Farmers
Subject: Botany / Agriculture
Grade level: Middle School - Grades 7-9
Academic Level: Ordinary
Project Type: Experimental
Cost: Low
Awards: Science in Action Winner
Affiliation: Google Science Fair
Year: 2012
Materials: 1000 lettuce seedlings, 100 baby marrow seedlings, Chicken and kraal manure, mulch, organic waste
Description: Can the current Hydroponic Methods that are used for intensive commercial farming be improved, or rather simplified for use by poor village subsistence farmers in Swaziland for crop production to reduce the high level of food shortages in the country?
We developed a Unique Simplified Hydroponics Method (USHM), to grow vegetables using local waste organic matter as growing medium and used waste cartons as garden containers. We then dissolved nutrients in chicken manure, into the water used for watering. Our aim was to produce large quantity of crops in a relative small area, without harming the environment with chemicals such as fertilizers; while using what others call waste in our crop production.
Then we grew baby marrows and lettuce to test which method has a better yield given the same area of land. For each method we conducted the following measurement; growth rate; time taken to harvest; economic impact given the same climate condition , time and resources and environmental impacts.
Link: www.googlesciencefair.com...
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