: Ex-Navy Man Uses Hydroponics to Start a Turmeric Revolution in Grow Bags, Gets 8 Times Higher Yield #IndiaNEWS #Bengaluru CV Prakash, a former naval officer, dedicated his free time during the lockdown

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Ex-Navy Man Uses Hydroponics to Start a Turmeric Revolution in Grow Bags, Gets 8 Times Higher Yield #IndiaNEWS #Bengaluru
CV Prakash, a former naval officer, dedicated his free time during the lockdown last year to find ways of growing turmeric (Curcuma longa) more profitable for farmers.
He has trained over 12,000 people in soilless farming techniques (hydroponics), since 2008.
During his research into growing the Salem variety of turmeric at his CV Hydro training centre in Chikkasandra, Bengaluru, from May 2020 to January 2020, Prakash found that his specialised and unique hydroponic farming methods were generating spectacular results.
At the CV Hydro training centre under Prakash’s premier horticulture upskilling institution Aggragannya Skills, his crops generated curcumin content of 5. 91%—nearly double of the standard 3% found in the Salem variety—and the highest yield was an astounding up to 8. 17 kg from a single growbag.
Farmers in places like Erode, Tamil Nadu, where the Salem variety is popularly grown, only garner about 500-700 g of turmeric per plant on conventional soil farms. “At best, a farmer may get 1 kg, if hes doing it well,� claims Prakash, speaking to The Better India.
Beyond the curcumin content and yield, tests conducted by Eurofins Labs in Bengaluru found no traces of heavy metal since Prakash doesn’t use chemical pesticides. Also, no microbiological contamination was found, making the harvested crop a 100% saleable product from the jump.
Encouraged by the results, Prakash began Mission Turmeric 2021 in the last week of January 2021, through which he announced his “Orange revolution�. In this ‘revolution’, Prakash is teaching farmers and people from different walks of life how to cultivate this popular spice in grow bags (sizable porous bags made of high-density polyethylene) packed with coco-peat (derived from coconut fibre extracted from husks) instead of growing in soil. His turmeric crops are grown in simple net houses as turmeric is a shade-loving plant.
Ex-Navy Man CV Prakash with his Turmeric Harvest
High Yield, Natural Method
The experiment began when Prakashs friend sent approximately 8 kg of seed rhizomes of the Tiger Claw Salem turmeric variety grown largely in Erode last February. Prakash planted an average of 60 g seed rhizomes in each grow bag. These seed rhizomes were planted in 100 such grow bags using cocopeat instead of soil as a growing media.
Over nine months, the results Prakash got were spectacular in less than perfect conditions.
“One of the important things we considered at a base level was that turmeric is a shade lover, loves hot and humid conditions. The trials were however done in Bengaluru which has medium heat and most often dry or high VPD (Vapor Pressure Deficit) or low RH (Relative Humidity), which were not the best conditions that turmeric would want,� notes a document that Aggragannya Skills shared with The Better India.

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