Ritec, a contraction of the Spanish words riegos (irrigation) & tecnologia (technology), was founded as a family company more than 30 years ago. Based in the horticultural region of Murcia, the company has been serving their local agricultural industry for decades with their technologies dedicated to irrigation and climate control of both open field and greenhouse crops.
Precision
While the company is still serving the industry in their home market, Ritec's export sales manager Sergio Casco says that are increasingly involved in the realization of projects all over the world as a result of the growing demand for efficient irrigation and climate technology. "All over the world, growers are challenged by the changing climate, water scarcity and the need to produce as efficient as possible by maximizing their output against a minimal input. Agriculture has changed and requires a more detailed approach with advanced technological solutions that can meet this precision."Ritec offers a wide range of solutions when it comes down to irrigation and climate control; from small irrigation units that offer a first step into precise automated cropping towards big and small scale turnkey greenhouse projects that include extensive irrigation systems and advanced climate controls such as heating, air recirculation fans, humidification, supply of CO2, pad & fan cooling systems, ventilation systems and even screen systems.
Global demand
It is not a secret that there is a huge demand for this kind of technology all over the world, especially in terms of the developments of greenhouses. Ritec has completed projects in China, Oman, Cuba, Morocco, Turkey, Mexico, Honduras, Venezuela, Dominican Republic, Iran and Tajikistan Casco: "We are currently also very active in countries like Egypt, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Algeria, Jordan, Romania, and Russia. A lot of these countries like to give their local agricultural economy a boost with the inauguration of efficient and sustainable practices to improve crop production and quality."
Casco explained that investors are nowadays looking for a complete solution. "We analyze the opportunities in the market and the local climate and come up with a complete business case that outline the return of investment ratios per crop and market. In the 21st century, farmers have been transformed into managers, everything is needed to be calculated into detail. Our technology plays a crucial role part in this."
Central Asia
Especially Central Asia is currently a big focus for Ritec. Casco says that he has been in various meetings with government officials of both Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, to discuss current challenges and problems that growers are facing. "While they are really ambitious for change, there is a lack of knowledge in these countries. Therefor the situation demands a complete turnkey approach from our side in order to provide a complete turnkey solution that comes along with dedicated support and training."
Another important country that relies on Ritec's solutions is Egypt. "The Al-Sisi government has announced big investments in order to give a new impuls to the domestic production of fruit and vegetables. Greenhouses play a big role in this development, and we are currently in negotiations for several large scale projects in Egypt too."
Solutions
Ritec offers avariety of products, which are devided into several brands. “We have our Nutritec automatic fertigation solutions, the Clinvertec automatic climate control solution and Hufitec, our automatic humidity and phytosanitary treatment system. We manufactur everything ourselves and tailor every product to its specific purpose and situation. As well as this we have a big focus on the implementation of new cutting-edge techniques such as wireless systems, sensors and cloud farming.”For more information:
Ritec
Sergio Casco Guardiola
sergio@ritec.es
www.ritec.es