Hydroponic Farming: Comprehensive Guide to Setup Costs, Investment, and Profit Margins

Hearing promises about the profit margin or profits in hydroponic farming can quickly excite some people. Such folks are easily prepared to start their own commercial hydroponic farming business. Unfortunately, they are unaware of the facts about hydroponic farming's training, setup, investment, and profit margin.

It is preferable to at least have a workable plan before beginning a hydroponic farming enterprise. The information that follows will give you an idea of the initial investment and setup costs (per cycle). When we discuss hydroponic farming, we can compare it to eco-friendly agricultural practices.

Cost of Setting up Hydroponic Farming in India:

Urban agriculture greatly benefits from hydroponic farming, which is vertical farming without soil. We use a water solution that contains the minerals plants require. Hydroponic gardening doesn't need soil. We are able to carry out hydroponic gardening even in a small area.

Constructing a hydroponic farming system accurately works similarly to how a precision farming system operates. The following are the requirements and startup costs for hydroponic farming in an area of 5000 square feet:

One-Time Setup Cost of Hydroponic Farming:

Polyhouse shelter- Rs 6,00,000

NFT System Setup-

• Pipes (4 inches)- Rs 7,00,000

• Pipes (2 inches)- Rs 12,000

• Pipe connectors- Rs 1,20,000

• Stand platform (hold 32 pipes each)- Rs 1,00,000 (40 stands)

• 20,000-liter tank- Rs 55,000

• 1,000 Plastic tanks- Rs 15,000 (2 tanks)

• 5,000 liters plastic tank- Rs 22,000

• Water pump (1 HP)- Rs 30,000 (4 pumps) 

• Water pump (0.5 HP)- Rs 10,000 (2 pumps)

• Net cups- Rs 1,00,000

• Water cooler- Rs 60,000

• RO system- Rs 50,000

• pH meter- Rs 1200

• TDS meter- Rs 2000

• Labor cost- Rs 10,000

The total cost of a one-time setup of hydroponics is between Rs 18,87,200 to 20,00,000.

Cost of Hydroponic Farming per Cycle:

Taking into account that a hydroponic agricultural system produces every month. Therefore, the cost per cycle in hydroponic farming is as follows:

• Electricity- Rs 15,000/ Month

• Seeds- Rs 20,000/ Month

• Fertilizer- Rs 20,000/ Month

• Labor- Rs 10,000/ Month

• Maintenance- Rs 5,000/ Month

• Packing and transportation- Rs 10,000/ Month

The total per cycle cost is Rs 80,000.

Profit in Hydroponic Farming:

Here are the results for a one-time crop production like a lattice on a 5000-square-foot area:

• Total production- 3200 kg

• Waste- 1000 kg

• Total left- 2200 kg

• Value in the market- Rs 350/kg

• Value of yield- Rs 7,70,000

The profit margin of hydroponics in India:

• Profit margin-Total earning per cycle investment

• Profit margin- Rs 7,70,000- 80,000= Rs 6,90,000/cycle

The profit margin of hydroponic farming in India is Rs 6,90,000/cycle.

Hydroponic farming investment per square foot:

In 5000 square feet. The total investment, total investment including one time and per cycle- is Rs 20,00,000. Hence, the one-time investment per square foot is Rs 400 and the per-cycle investment for one square foot is Rs 16.

Hydroponic farming profit per square foot:

The total profit margin of Rs 5000 square feet area is Rs 6,90,000. The profit margin per square foot is Rs 138/cycle.