Green Farming's hydroponic system in Kenyan flower farm to save 60% irrigation water and to produce 10% more roses

During the past year, a group of Green Farming members has been active in developing and setting up a demonstration project on water management for the Kenyan horticultural sector. The project has been developed in close cooperation with Van den Berg Roses in Naivasha.

The project officially started on September 15th as Green Farming chairman Harm Maters, (r) Agricultural Counselor at the Dutch Embassy in Nairobi Hans Wolff, (c) and Van den Berg Roses director Arie van den Berg (l) cut a ribbon to officially open the Green Farming Water Management Demo Project.

Hydroponic production system to grow roses
The demo project involves a closed hydroponic production system where all inputs to the crop can be controlled and irrigation water and fertilizer that is not used is recycled.

The project includes water storage, treatment with reversed osmosis, recycling, optimisation of fertigation and optimisation of crop cultivation techniques. The project’s main objective is saving 40-60% of irrigation water while achieving a 10% increase in yields.

Fully recycable fertigation water
The purpose of the project is to demonstrate that through the implementation of best practice technology and management, water and nutrient use in protected and open horticultural production systems can be reduced and production quantity and quality can be increased at the same time.

The aim is to realize this through a hydroponic system with fully controllable crop inputs and recyclable fertigation water.

Flower farms at Lake Naivasha.

Dutch Green Farming consortium
Green Farming is a Dutch programme uniting horticultural networks in the Netherlands, Kenya and Ethiopia through joint activities, projects and co-operations in the areas of research, development and production.

The demonstration project is an initiative of Green Farming member Bosman, in cooperation with Hoogendoorn Growth Management, Van der Knaap Group, Wageningen UR Greenhouse Horticulture, Genap, Hatenboer-Water and DLV Plant. The project is supported by the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs, Agriculture and Innovation.

In co-operation with Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT), Wageningen University & Research centre, based in the Netherlands, will be monitoring the project and present the results.

Reports to Kenyan companies and officials
In the course of this project, set to run over 2 years, Green Farming will keep Kenyan companies and officials informed about all results achieved.

This news item is based on a news item published on the website of Green Farming.

More information
Green Farming
p/o
AVAG - Platform Toeleveranciers Glastuinbouw
's-Gravenzande, the Netherlands
+31 174 44 66 60
www.greenfarming.nl