Dutch company uses 'country-specific' greenhouse technology on farms
Two Dutch horticultural suppliers have been praised by the country's Minister for Foreign Trade and Development on a recent South African visit for their cooperation with local farmers and region-specific technology.
Minister Lilianne Ploumen took part in a trade mission to the country earlier in July and singled out Hoogendoorn and Bosman Van Zaal's contribution to a lettuce greenhouse farm called Jomajoco.
Jomajoco supplies South Africa's largest retail chain Woolworths and has signed up to its sustainability-focused 'Farming for the future' program, which has a set of stringent requirements.
Hoogendoorn export manager Martin Helmich told www.freshfruitportal.com his company's combination of region-specific technology and dependable, easy-to-use systems was why it was chosen to work with the farm.
"We have knowledge about the African market - that's very important, and what we did was we made a different design according to the wishes of the grower," Helmich said.
"He really wanted to have a reliable, user-friendly system that saves water - that was priority number one.
"The user-friendly aspect was very important for him because he wanted everyone to be able to work with the system."
Hoogendoorn started installing its systems at Jomajoco last year, and the farm began using the equipment over the last few months.
Future plans are also in place to maximize use of space in the greenhouses by making the hydroponics systems moveable so they can be adjusted as the lettuces grow.
"In the beginning stage you have more plants per square meter, so it's good if you can move the gutters according to the growth of your plants," Helmich said.
"So as soon as you harvest the crops you move them together, and then you have more plants per square meter and less water usage per square meter."
It is estimated that Jomajoco is now using 30% less water than it did previously with open field cultivation.
Helmich went on to say rather than applying the same system to all the farms he worked on, it was usually necessary to design and implement a new system to tackle issues only found in certain areas of the world.
"For example, in South Africa there is a lot of carbonate in the water, so we designed a special irrigation unit which we call the Cyclone.
"The Cyclone mixes the water with air using a high-speed cyclone, and this creates CO2. So instead of bringing the carbonate into the drip lines you remove it before it enters the greenhouse, and because of that you also use less fertilizer.
"That was specially developed for the African market, and we can use this in East Africa too. It's very suitable for the South African market, but this is not something that we use in the Netherlands.
"We make products for certain markets; we don't bring dutch technology and push it into those markets."
Hoogendoorn operates in 70 countries and as such has built up a wealth of knowledge on how to implement the most effective horticultural systems in a range of different climates and circumstances. The company often operates with partners in different regions, with Bosman Van Zaal as its partner in southern and eastern Africa.
"In countries where the climate is extremely hot and we have to cool down the temperature, we can do that in different ways," Helmich said.
"At the moment we are busy in the Middle East, and in Saudi Arabia, for example, we have a different approach and use closed and semi-closed greenhouses, which is a new principle for the market.
"What we also do in these kinds of countries is use high pressure misting systems for lowering the temperature and if that is not enough we also use air treatment units.
"There are different ways to cool down temperature but what we always want to do is do it with as little water as possible because in many parts of the world water is very scarce so we try to do it in a very sustainable way."
In line with its sustainability ethos, Hoogendoorn has also carried out solar energy projects in various countries to reduce environmental impacts where it operates.
"What you can do is harvest the solar energy and combine that with air treatment units. So we always think in the way of sustainable."
Helmich also said nowadays it was becoming increasing important to reduce dependency on resources given the growing population.
"We need quality food, we need enough food, and we say what we need is 'more with less' - so we need more yield, but less input from power, fertilization and irrigation water," he said.
"This trend we see in many countries in the world. In many countries we see growers and investors trying to improve this kind of technology in greenhouses."
Photos: www.hoogendoorn.nl