Greenhouses in the Desert

There are greenhouses in the desert. Not net houses. Those are there, of course - they grow bananas. But I am talking about actual greenhouses. And hot houses that sustain 45+ degrees Celsius.

So, to people who say greenhouses are unsuitable for the Kenyan weather, what exactly do you mean? What weather are you talking about?

I once spoke with one of the leading ladies in the agricultural space about tomato farming in Kajiado. I visited her to explore spreading my agri-tourism business beyond our hydroponic farm at Kibiko. She was curious about hydroponics. Seeing a moment to shine, I explained as best as I could; that at Kibiko Hydroponic Farm, we produce capsicum, tomatoes and cucumbers without soil.

She listened politely.

At some point, our conversation shifted to large-scale tomato Farmers in the interiors of Kajiado County. These Farmers lease virgin tracts of land from the local community.

Drill a borehole.

Plant tomatoes in 50-100 acres.

(An ocean of tomatoes with no visible end? Intriguing, I imagined as she narrated).

The Farmer recoups their investment and some profit after 2 or 3 harvests. The fully intriguing part of this story is this: After recovering their investment, the Farmer “abandons” the tomatoes to workers. The workers take care of the tomatoes and pay themselves by selling the fruits.

The Farmer finds another huge virgin land, leases it, and begins the process.

I was heartbroken by the strategy.

It is simple. Minimal investment. Recoup. Move on.

With such a business model, who needs greenhouses? ?

Another time, I was listening to an episode on the Lynn Ngugi Show. The visitor was from Belgium (I think). At some point she said,

“In Belgium, people work hard. If you don’t work, you starve. Unlike home (Kenya), you cannot throw a seed outside, where it will grow with zero care”.

Perhaps, this is what is meant by greenhouses are not necessary with the Kenyan climate.

And it is true. We can keep producing even without greenhouses. As we are currently doing.

But, what has been the cost of that?

• Wastage starts at the farms.
• We remain vulnerable to erratic weather.
• Farmers have little power to negotiate in the market.
• We produce the way our parents produce but get less yield for the same effort they put in.

The other side to this coin is to embrace greenhouses.

Perhaps, one of our biggest issues with greenhouses is not that we do not need them; it is that we do not build them right.

This is also something I experienced at Kibiko. Two kinds of greenhouses exist.

One tall with vents at the roof. The other short with vents at the front and back. The tall ones are noticeably cooler, while the short ones tend to be hot and humid. Eventually, it was determined that the tall ones with the vents at the roof encouraged better air circulation, which may have contributed to better yields in these greenhouses.

At some point, we experimented with shade nets for the short greenhouses. That did not work – mainly because in some months, Ngong gets extremely cold.

What is my point?

Kenya’s climate is perfectly suited to greenhouses.

But we must build them right. (And operate them right). But first, let us build them right.