Water Energy Food Nexus (WEFN)

Water Energy Food Nexus (WEFN)

Water Energy Food Nexus (WEFN) Through Solar Green House Based Hydroponic Solutions with Android Mobile Application of Vegetable Market for Rural farmers and Urban Users’ is a major R&D project supported by the Department of Science and Technology (WTI/DST) under Water Energy Food Nexus call of the proposal. Uttarakhand State Council for Science and Technology (UCOST), Dehradun is a lead organization in this study with collaborators TERI-SAS, New Delhi, G. B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar and DAV (PG) College, Dehradun.
The major objectives of this study were empirically linking Water Energy Food Nexus (WEFN) with experimental data in Dehradun Valley, Uttarakhand which includes inventory survey of crop information, energy consumption, evaluation of electricity and water pricing policy, its impact on cropping choice, field surveys to determine the type of high-value vegetable crops that should be encouraged for sustainable use of resources in the study area and various stakeholder meetings in Doon valley for skill development of farmers. Another aim of this study was to assess cropping choice by developing an innovative Water-Energy-Food Nexus Index (WEFNI) and to optimize the most suitable crops for sustainable hydroponic farming which also includes an Initial Model for calculating the index, Water Energy Food Nexus Index (WEFNI) of each high-value vegetable crop. One of the primary goals of this research is to evaluate cropping options by creating an innovative Water-Energy-Food Nexus Index (WEFNI) and to optimise the best crops for sustainable hydroponic farming.  These activities aid in the optimization of crop patterns or the selection of high-value vegetable crops when using solar-powered hydroponic farming.  These activities help in the optimization of cropping patterns or choice of high-value vegetable crops using Solar based hydroponic farming.
Under this project, a SMART Solar-based Hydroponic System having Automated Monitoring and controlling environmental parameters (temperature, humidity, pH, conductivity, etc) has been installed on Council's premises. In this study, we have also developed an Android Mobile Application for Farmers which provides a link between transportation, storage, and markets of hydroponic and other crops. This Solar based Greenhouse system established at Council is one of the best greenhouse designs incorporating a source of renewable energy (solar energy) and monitoring and control of the internal greenhouse environment can be done through an automation unit. This study model can be replicated in other areas of the state as well as in entire Himalayan ecosystem. Solar-based hydroponic farming will be helpful for better economic returns to the local farmers aiming to reduce their water and energy footprint. This is a State of Art lab-cum Solar Green House for Hydroponic production in Doon Valley, which is a technology demonstration-cum-dissemination centre and is beneficial for the Himalayan farmer's community. It is a representative model of any small valley of Uttarakhand. 
 

Objectives-

  1. Empirically linking Water Energy Food Nexus (WEFN) with experimental data in Dehradun Valley, Uttarakhand
  2. Design and setup of SMART Solar based Hydroponic System

Achievements:

  • Five days Training under the theme ‘Hydroponic Growing Techniques’ held at Saveer Biotech Ltd., Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh from 19-23 December, 2022.
  • Five day Training-cum-workshop (10-15 January, 2023) under the theme ‘Operation and Maintenance of Solar Greenhouse’ held at UCOST, Dehradun .
  • Launch of E-farming demo application “Himalayan Health Green – Buy and Sell Hydroponic farming Products by Honorable Chief Minister Uttarakhand. This App provides a digital platform to farmers for buying and selling of their hydroponic products.
  • Two days "Workshop-cum-Training of Solar Green House Hydroponics and Mobile App for Rural Farmers & Urban Users” was held on 10-11 February 2023 at UCOST, Dehradun. In this workshop more than 200 farmers, experts, scientists and villagers participated.
  • Hydroponic training manual was published and released during 17th USSTC at UCOST by Honorable Chief Minister Uttarakhand.
  • Lokarpan of “Solar Green House” as State-of-Art Facility established at UCOST, Dehradun campus by Honorable Chief Minister Uttarakhand, Shri Pushkar Singh Dhami during 17th USSTC, UCOST, Dehradun. The galaxy of VIP’s/senior resource persons/ invited experts/ project team, were part of the overall programme, and discussion included Shir Pushkar Singh Dhami, Hon’ble Chief Minister, Uttarakhand, Shri Ganesh Joshi, Cabinet Minister Agriculture, Government of Uttarakhand, Dehradun, Dr. Praveen Arora, Advisor and Head, Water Technologies Cell, DST, New Delhi and Prof. Durgesh Pant, Director General, UCOST, Dehradun.

Project Team:

  • Prof. (Dr.) Durgesh Pant, Director General, UCOST (Project Coordinator)
  • Dr. Shashi Bhushan Tripathi, TERI-SAS, New Delhi (Principal Investigator)
  • Dr. Ashutosh Mishra, Senior Scientific Officer, UCOST, Dehradun (Co-PI, WEFN- Project)
  • Dr. Prashant Singh, DAV (PG) College, Dehradun (Co-PI, WEFN- Project)
  • Dr. Vinay S P Sinha, TERI-SAS, New Delhi (Co-PI, WEFN- Project)
  • Prof. Rajeev Kumar Srivastava, G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology (GBPUAT), Pantnagar, U.S. Nagar (Co-PI, WEFN- Project)
  • Ms Kanchan Dobhal, Scientific Officer, UCOST Dehradun (Incharge WEFN- Project)
  • Dr Bipin Sati, Research Associate, WEFN- Project, UCOST, Dehradun
  • Ms Vaishali Sharma, Junior Research Fellow, WEFN- Project, UCOST, Dehradun
  • Mr Narendra Negi, Technical Assistant, WEFN- Project, UCOST, Dehradun
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