Feasibility Study of Solar-Powered Hydroponic Fodder Machine in Bangladesh

Abstract

Farming is a traditional and the most common profession in Bangladesh. Most of the people of Bangladesh live in the villages, and most of the villagers are involved in farming. One of the main reasons of having common interest to farming is because the land is fertile and plain. Another interesting factor is almost all Bangladeshi people are born farmers. However, Bangladesh is among the most vulnerable countries to climate change, which poses a long-term threat to the country’s agricultural sector, particularly in areas affected by flooding, saline intrusion, and drought. Faster and more inclusive rural growth with job creation will require greater agricultural diversification together with more robust rural nonfarm enterprise development. Nonetheless, the present condition is the lack of adequate government support. For instance, land crisis and power generation are the critical challenges for agriculture in Bangladesh. So, solar-powered hydroponic fodder machine can play a game-changing role in rural areas. It will produce crops as well as grass for dairy farms without using grid power in rural areas. In this paper, we have gone through a feasibility study of solar-powered hydroponic machines in Bangladesh to find out a probable solution for land crisis, malnutrition problem, and power generation. It is found that the fodder machine which runs at low power at 1.5–2.0 kW and requires only 280 sq. of area to feed the 10–12 full-grown cows can be powered by the solar and installed in rural areas. Furthermore, the products from the fodder machine contain protein, vitamin B1, iron, potassium, magnesium, and zinc, which provide the cattle with proper nutrition.