By Muhammad Soban ISLAMABAD, March 22 (INP-WealthPK): Despite being an agricultural country, Pakistan has to import food commodities, including vegetables, to meet its growing domestic demand. This is because of ever-depleting water sources, changed weather patterns and a lack of technological innovation, to name a few. However, Pakistan could benefit hugely from the use of hydroponic technology in farming to not only meet its domestic offseason demand but also save the hard-earned foreign exchange spent on food imports. According to the United Nations data, Pakistan has the highest population growth rate of 1.9% among the South Asian countries after Afghanistan. The growing population leads to increasing food demand. To meet the domestic demand, there is a need to maximise production. On its part, the government is taking a variety of initiatives to create a modern, efficient and diversified agricultural sector. Hydroponic is one of the latest methods of farming that is being increasingly used around the world to grow crops in water. The hydroponic production system possesses tremendous potential for revolutionising agricultural production, and could help Pakistan ensure food security in the era of accelerating urbanisation. Globally, hydroponic technology, a dynamic system of multifarious symmetric interactions, is being tested in many countries. It has been found successful in terms of productivity enhancement and food safety. Countries are promoting hydroponics for food security and safety. Pakistan has also tested this technology at commercial scale and found it successful. Developing countries like Pakistan are facing the serious issue of food insecurity and the solution to it lies in the adoption of modern technologies like hydroponics to improve productivity without compromising food quality and safety. Talking to WealthPK, Dr. Arshad Mehmood Malik, an assistant professor at the Arid Agriculture University, Rawalpindi, said, “Hydroponic technology is getting popular in Pakistan.” According to him, “This new method of farming can help get as much production from just one hectare of land as 10 hectares of agriculture land.” He further maintained, “Pakistan is among the countries most vulnerable to the climate change effects. So, hydroponic technology offers the best solution for Pakistan to produce enough food with less water.” Hydroponic-based farming is efficient and consumes only 10% of water compared to the conventional way of farming.” “Pakistan can produce tomatoes, cucumber and other offseason vegetables with the help of this technology,” he suggested.