Originally reported and written in July 2023, this story has been republished as part of our archival content.

Shashank Dubey was comfortable in his corporate job in Delhi. One day, he read an article about vegetables grown on the floodplain of the Yamuna river and the potential health risks associated with eating them. This news troubled him.

“These vegetables are grown in polluted environments and loaded with heavy metals. People who consume them get fatal diseases, such as cancer,” the 33-year-old tells The Better India.

“Apart from that, urban residents are so dependent on packaged and deep-fried foods, which is harmful to health. The quality of the food that we consume matters. So I thought I should grow my own vegetables,” he adds.

After working for nearly a decade as an electronics and communications engineer, Shashank quit his job in 2018 and moved to Vadodara. Soon after, he ventured into growing his own food. But like a majority of urban residents, space was a constraint for him.

As an alternative to traditional vegetable farming which requires a lot of time and large land, the engineer chose aquaponics farming, which combines aquaculture and hydroponics. In this method, fish helps humans grow food as the nutrients from fish excreta enrich the water used to grow plants.

Today, he grows nearly 2,500 varieties of plants, which include green leafy vegetables, medicinal herbs, and flowers.

Hydroponics vs aquaponics

While looking for alternative methods to conventional farming, Shashank discovered hydroponics as well as aquaponics methods of farming.

Explaining the difference between the two, he says, “In hydroponics, plants are grown without soil as a base. Instead of soil, the roots are immersed in water. A system is placed wherein a fixed quantity of water keeps cycling. Additionally, liquid chemical fertilisers are added to nourish the........

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