After running an art gallery for years, bagging an award for his innovative works on ‘tiles for ceiling’, C Shanmugasundaram of Chittode decided to become a farm innovator.

His model — dish pandal and vertical farming stand — at ICAR Krishi Vigyan Kendra – Myrada, at Gobichettipalayam near Erode catch the attention of every visitor.

Creeper vegetables such as ridgegourd, snake gourd and bottlegourd hang vertically from the dish-type pandal and brinjal, tomato, chilli peep out of small holes in grow bags.

Though the vertical garden is usually the cynosure of all eyes, the design structure at Shanmugasundaram’s 10th Planet Organic Farm is different. “I worked on the structure for three years before sharing the idea here,” he told BusinessLine.

Manifold benefits

His vertical farming design structure appears more suited for small and marginal farmers with holdings of an acre or more, and not for growing plants on the walls of a balcony.

The vertical farming structural design comprises fiveracks with three rows, erected using laminated wooden poles. Coco-pith, vermi-compost, cow dung and 2 kg of red soil were mixed and filled in each grow bag and micro dripper used for water management.

“I’ve tried raising crops such as onion, tomato, cauliflower, capsicum, chilli, brinjal, beetroot and radish. Besides space management, we were able to save water up to 80 per cent, cultivate throughout the year, get better aeration, better management of pest and diseases and above all, get increased yield. The investment works out to ₹1.5 lakh, which can be recovered in one yield,” he explained.

“Creeper vegetables are grown using dish pandal technology. Here we ensure that the creeper clings to the wired-mesh — erected like that of a cobweb — and that there is enough light to grow greens or even tomato in the ground area,” he said.

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