Recently Window Farms have appeared across the capital city of Pyongyang including Ryomyong Street, adding to the emotions of life. We visited the Pyongyang Vegetable Science Institute to know details about window farming. We met Ma Il Hyon, a hydroponic researcher of the institute, in a hall housing varieties of well-designed and profitable window farming devices. The researcher said, “Window farming is based on hydroponics. Necessary devices are placed at sunshiny windows to raise fruit vegetables, edible and medicinal garden plants and aromatic plants by means of natural light, temperature and nutrient solution.” Window farm is also called home garden. Among vegetable farms depending on hydroponics, the window farm costs the least, covers small spaces and is easy to manage. And it helps urban people to raise and use fresh vegetables all the year round.
The scientist went on to explain about the merits of the farm.
The farm can produce 80 to 100 kgs of pollution-free vegetables a year in any sunshiny places such as rooms and offices without using soil. And the farm ensures fresh air and green environment indoors so that people can feel the taste and fragrance of nature. It is highly upon by office workers and elderly people as it is effective in natural and psychological treatments. Children can cultivate rich emotions while seeing the growth of plants.
1. Pipes are used for vegetable cultivation. 2. Fruit vegetables are raised on racks. 3. Vegetables are grown in pots.
He led us to a hydroponic laboratory saying that a window farm can produce as much fresh air as that from an anion generator. The laboratory was a place where problems arising in realizing window farming were solved. The laboratory established the relevant cultivation system while producing substrates, devices and nutrient solution for cultivation. We met Kim Sun Bok, a member of the laboratory, who made the nutrient solution as required by each crop, and she said, “Nutrient solution is very important in window farming because it depends on the solution. Every crop needs different nutrients in different periods so I made different kinds of solution to suit different crops.” Ma Il Hyon said that they chose materials of cultivation substrate light and easy to use in accordance with the features of home gardening. And we met the head of the laboratory. He said that window farming makes plants grow fast with the help of the solution and that it is profitable and ornamental as it hastens the growth of fresh vegetables 50 percent faster than soil cultivation, free from harmful insects, and provides green environment. He went on to say that previously hydroponic greenhouses were built across the coun try, that they gained a lot of experience during the period and that it was easy to manage window farms. And they would intensify the research on problems arising in introducing and managing such farms, he added.
We could see fresh tomatoes, strawberries and cucumbers cultivated in the laboratory as well. Such farms will make the people better-off.
Article: Kim Chol Hyon
