Update: May 2021
The below blogpost was written in 2019. Though the concept and underlying principles remain the same, the pricing changes year on year. Do add an inflation of 8% to 10% year on year to arrive at current prices. We have updated the summary figures to reflect 2021 pricing below in green colour.
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Let us start with a cross-question.
How much does a car cost in India?
The answer is, there is no correct answer. It depends.
It depends upon a multitude of factors like who builds it, the fuel it runs on, the quality of spare parts that goes into it, the power it packs under the hood, etc. There can be price differentials of more than 3x to 5x across models providing similar utility. Any of these cars can take you from point A to B, but at varying price points.
Using the car's analogy, one can relate as to why the cost of setting up a hydroponic farm of a given scale (the yield capacity), and size (the area occupied by the farm) is not constant.
In the remainder of this post, we will try to help you understand the critical decision points/choices that go into setting up a Hydroponic farm. Post that, we will also see how these choices can impact the overall set-up cost for the hydroponic farm.
When setting up a Hydroponic commercial farm, the various cost components can be grouped under three major heads. These are the external housing, the hydroponic growing technology, and the automation.
External Housing
Hydroponic Technology
Automation
External Housing
For example, polyhouse, greenhouse, glasshouse, shade net house, etc.
Hydroponic Technology
For example, Nutrient Film Technique, Deep Water Culture, Ebb & Flow, Dutch Buckets, etc.
Automation
For example setting automatic controls for Temperature, Humidity, Irrigation, pH, EC, etc.
The External Housing
Before one even begins to set up the technology inside, the initial cost that a commercial grower will encounter will be towards setting up the external housing. Two critical design choices can impact the cost of the external housing or the outer structure. These are:-
Choice of Design
Flat Roof
The roof portion in a flat roof structure is parallel to the ground, in one horizontal plane. Since the roof, in this case, is flat, any falling debris, or rain, or snow can get accumulated on the roof and may damage the structure. As such, these structures are built using a permeable covering of poly-fiber or nylon-based sheets that allows rainwater and wind to pass through the cover.
Flat roof net-houses cost less but provide limited utility. They are suitable for areas that receive deficient rainfall, no hailstorm, and wind speeds of less than 100 km/ph.
Within the flat roof structure, one can go for pipe purlin (roof made out of GI pipes, just like the sides) or Cable purlin (roof made out of GI cables, sides out of GI pipes).
Round/Dome Shaped
This structure has a curved top design which helps in air circulation, collection of rainwater, and also sliding of debris or hail. This structure is costlier than the flat roof structure. It is usually covered using polycarbonate or other such non-permeable sheets.
Choice of Covering Material
Shade Net
Amongst different options for outer covering, the shade net is the cheapest one. As the name suggests, it is primarily used to provide shade to the plants to protect them from the harsh sun. Shade net comes in different qualities, colors, and shade factors like 25%, 50%, 75%, etc. The most commonly used shade net color is green.
Insect Net
An insect net costs almost 70% more than a shade net. It has tiny holes that do not allow insects to pass through. One standard design adopted by many nursery and kitchen garden owners is to use insect net on the sides and shade net on the top. This choice helps in keeping costs low, providing limited protection from insects, and also maintaining the temperature near room temperature owing to natural ventilation.
Poly sheets
While using a shade net or insect net, one cannot necessarily control the climate inside the greenhouse to a large extent. Poly Ethylene or PolyCarbonate or other plastic-based coverings provide an excellent option for creating a climate-controlled greenhouse. Because of the plastic covering used, these structures are commonly referred to as poly house.
A poly-house is the structure of choice in climatic zones that experience varied weather conditions like extreme heat, or cold, or rains, or hail storm, etc. Within the poly-house, one can opt for temperature control through natural ventilation, foggers, and exhaust fans, or a slightly costlier cooling pad and fan system.
A poly-house is the structure of choice in climatic zones that experience varied weather conditions like extreme heat, or cold, or rains, or hail storm, etc. Within the poly-house, one can opt for temperature control through natural ventilation, foggers, and exhaust fans, or a slightly costlier cooling pad and fan system.
Glass
Glass based structures are recommended in the regions that experience extreme cold climate.
So how much does it cost to set up the outer structure?
Coming to the cost for these structures, the following were the ballpark estimates for setting up one acre of GreenHouse at prevailing market rates in 2019.
Do note that these prices are for an acre. The lower the area, the higher will be the cost per sq. M and vice versa. This non-linearity in pricing exists because the larger size allows for amortization of fixed costs, like that of labor and installation over a larger area, bringing the cost per sq M down.
Flat Roof Shade Net with Cable purlin (Wire Rope Net House) - 9 L to 12 L (11 to 14 in 2021)
Flat Roof Shade Net with Cable purlin (Wire Rope Net House) - 9 L to 12 L (11 to 14 in 2021)
Flat Roof Shade Net with Pipe purlin (Shade Net House) - 15 L to 18 L (18 to 22 in 2021)
Dome-shaped Poly house (naturally ventilated Poly House) - 28 L to 33 L (32 to 36 in 2021)
Dome-shaped Poly house with fan and pad cooling system (Climate Controlled Poly House) - 43 L to 48 L (50 to 55 in 2021)
Returning to our car's analogy, now that you have a fair idea of cost for outer structure, you need to select the car that will suit your requirements best. Do you need to go from point A to B in city traffic, or will you mostly be doing off-roading? Are you ok with an open jeep, or do you need a state of art dual climate control system?
You must make all those decisions to arrive at the optimal choice of outer structure that fits your specific needs. It can cost you as low as 9 L (11L in 2021) and as high as 48 L (55L in 2021), depending upon the conditions that will suit your needs.
After having covered the first component of cost, it is now time to look at the second component, which is the cost of setting up the hydroponic growing structures. To cover the second part, we will consider the most commonly used Hydroponic structure in the Indian context. Let us have a look at the cost of setting up an NFT Hydroponic system inside the farm.
HappyFarming!