Simple Nutrient Addition Program (SNAP) Hydroponics in Enhancing the Gulayan sa Paaralan

Abstract

INTRODUCTION

One of the main issues teachers and students had to deal with in implementing agriculture in the schools is the vulnerability of vegetable crops to weeds, insects, pests, and diseases as well as the space restriction that leads to poor agricultural practice.

In Hulo National High School, the implementation of agriculture is difficult not only for the vulnerabilities of crops to insects and the type of soil, which is not suited for sustainable crop production, but also due to soil erosion caused by improper drainage system.

Among the alternative agricultural systems, the researchers find that SNAP Hydroponics appears to be a popular and acceptable solution to address these problems wherein Simple Nutrient Addition Program (SNAP) Hydroponics is a simple, non-circulating low-cost production system for producing vegetables that make use recyclable waste materials and a locally developed, inexpensive and a highly buffered nutrient solution. The study tends to measure the effectiveness of the SNAP Hydroponics in enhancing the Gulayan sa Paaralan using plastic and styrofoam container.

METHODS

A descriptive research method was used, a type of research method that is mainly concerned with describing the nature or condition of the details in the present situation. Twenty Grade 10 students utilized the SNAP Hydroponics and described the growth of the crops in terms of size and appearance using an observation tool. We gathered the data and used frequency to determine the effectiveness of SNAP Hydroponics in terms of size and appearance and the Independent T-test to identify the significant difference on using plastic and Styrofoam container.

RESULTS

The findings revealed that crops grown in SNAP Hydroponics solution are healthier in terms of size and appearance than the crops grown in the school soil. Thus, it can be concluded that SNAP Hydroponics can be an alternative solution for the school to sustain the Gulayan Sa Paaaralan Program despite having a lot of factors leading to poor agricultural practice and crop production.

DISCUSSIONS

The results show that the Simple Nutrient Addition Program (SNAP) Hydroponics could be one of the better alternatives for vegetable production. Aside from its growing effects on crops, it is also an agri-friendly solution because ninety percent of the materials needed to set this up are recyclable, there is no need for cultivation, it has no harmful chemicals, easy to control pests and diseases, and has low manpower requirements.