The Bangladesh Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (BCSIR) is encouraging urban dairy farmers to grow fodder in a fully controlled environment, and it has already had great success. It says an air-conditioned room is the ideal place to grow protein-rich, nutritious grass.

One kilogram of wheat seed sprouts in 24 hours and gives five kilograms of grass in eight days, grown entirely hydroponically in an air-conditioned chamber. This soilless farming is being called the agriculture of the future.

The year-round automatic fodder chamber was built at the Science Laboratory under the Centre for Technology Transfer and Innovation project. A chamber costing 800,000 taka can produce 784 kg of grass a day, enough fresh fodder for 53 cows, and a half-capacity chamber can be built for 400,000 taka.

The system has been formally presented to dairy farmers in the capital and has already caught many people's attention. The Minister of Science and Technology said there is no alternative to technology for the future of agricultural production.

Source: Shykh Seraj, Hridoye Mati O Manush. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.