Together with leading Dutch companies, Green Farming has set up several unique demonstration projects in East and South African countries for the last decade. The most recent, is the Climate screen project at Kordes and Maridadi in Naivasha, which has been officially opened on January 20, 2015. This is the fourth Green Farming demonstration project in the Kenyan market. Further projects are the Water demo project, solar- powered greenhouse project and vegetable demo project ‘Growing Solutions Kenya’. These show local farmers how to create sustainable production with high quality end products.
Seminar at Kordes
During the seminar at Kordes, Green Farming presented the results of these projects on efficient and environmental friendly water and fertilizer management, and on the use of solar energy for electrical and thermal energy generation. Guest speaker, the CEO of the Kenyan Flower Council (KFC), Mrs. Jane Ngige reflected upon current sector developments and the implications of the demonstrated technologies for the sector. According to Mrs. Jane Ngige, the fact that the EPA has stopped as of 25 December 2014, which means that Kenyan exports will again enter the European market without any tariffs, is positive for the Kenyan flower business. Moreover, it encourages Green Farming projects for more sustainable production of flowers.
Chairman of Green Farming, Harm Maters introduced Green Farming was present at the official opening of the Climate screen project at Kordes and Maridadi and introduces Green Farming during the seminar. Green Farming partners, climate screens supplier Svensson and horticultural automation producer Hoogendoorn Growth Management presented the results of the realized projects.
Svensson representative in Africa, Philip Immerzeel mentioned the positive contribution of climate screens on the quality and the production increase. Martin Helmich, Sales & Marketing Director of Hoogendoorn Growth Management, referred to the results of the Water demo project at Van den Berg in Kenya and the Solar-power greenhouse project at Olij, which are automated by Hoogendoorn.
Results Water demo project
The water project was put into practice at rose farm Van den Berg, where the use of water and fertilizers, and production results of coco peat based hydroponic system are compared with a soil reference. This resulted in irrigation savings of 56%, and thus fertilizers. Moreover, there is 41% more production in terms of number of stems and 65% more production in terms of weight is realized. Based on these results, the payback period for the investment costs are within three years.
Results solar-powered greenhouse project
The project on the use of solar energy for electrical and thermal energy generation has been put into practice at Olij Roses in Naivasha earlier this year. The aim is to enable growers to run the farm independent of the Kenyan electricity grid. By means of solar panels and heat collectors combined generation of heat and electricity is realized.
Solar panels are installed to produce electrical energy and solar heat collectors generate thermal energy. Thermal energy is stored in a heat storage tank from which part of the farm can be heated during the night. The results of the solar-powered greenhouse project are 40% energy savings. Payback time of this solar system is in between two to four years.
Growing Solutions Kenya project
The vegetable demo project ‘Growing Solutions Kenya’ has been put into practice at two locations, in three different types of greenhouses with each a different level of technology as required. In addition, the project includes a training program at the training centre at Latia. This enables farmers to expand their knowledge and thus achieve better growth yields and improve the quality of their crop.
For more information please download the seminar presentation containing the project results from the website www.greenfarming.com and watch the “Solar-powered Greenhouse” project movie (http://goo.gl/MllhUh).
