Kenya: So you bought a greenhouse... now what?

"It was a venture meant to change fortunes of hundreds of farmers. The ‘magic house’ that was what farmers were told. But from my field visits to various regions in what was the former Western Province the story is discouraging," writes an expert on sustainable agriculture and agricultural solutions at KDRTV.

"Scenes of abandoned greenhouses is what I encountered. How would one spend hundreds of thousands to build the greenhouse only to abandon it? On further inquiry I learnt that farmers feel cheated and betrayed.

"The craze for the greenhouse was a creation of unscrupulous merchants whose interest was to maximise sales at the expense of innocent farmers. As I write this article, farmers who attempted to invest in this technology were disillusioned. Out of curiosity, as a technical advisor I scheduled a field visit to listen to the farmers’ stories. My first stop is Shianjero village in Shinyalu Sub-county. I can’t find the owner, but neighbours confirm that there was once a greenhouse, but the owner pulled it down after the first season. The farmer had invested Sh500,000 [4800 USD] to build a greenhouse and projected a profit margin of over 300 per cent in the first year of production. Unexpectedly, the first harvest only produced small fruits which are likened to “ball gums”.

"As I interact with these farmers, I realise how gullible and naive they were persuaded into this technology by promoters out to make quick sales. The unsuspecting farmers sold their assets, took loans and others spent their retirement benefits on this technology."

Read more at KDRTV