lettuce |
The Netherlands
is building its first large-scale commercial vertical indoor farm. It's
expected to serve Europe's largest supermarket chains with high
quality, pesticide-free fresh cut lettuce.
Vertical farms use
high tech lighting and climate controlled buildings to grow crops like
leafy greens or herbs indoors while using less water and soil. Because
it's a closed growing system, with controlled evaporation from plants,
this farms use 95% less water
than traditional farms. At the same time, most vertical farms don't
need soil because they use aeroponics or hydroponic systems - these
dispense nutrients needed for plants to grow via mist or water. This
technique is ideal for meeting the challenges of urbanisation and the
rising demand by consumers for high-quality, pesticide-free food.
They're not
unusual. In recent years, there's been a gradual increase in the number
of vertical farming enterprises, especially in North America and Asia.
In the US, Chicago is home to several vertical farms, while New Jersey is home to AeroFarms, the world's largest vertical farm. Other countries such as Japan,
Singapore, Italy and Brazil have also seen more vertical farms. As the
trend continues, vertical farming is expected to be valued at US$5.80 billion by 2022.
Africa faces similar trends that demand it considers vertical farms. Firstly, it's urbanising
at a fast rate. By 2025 more than 70% of its population is expected to
live in the cities. Secondly, many of these urban consumers are
demanding and willing to spend much more to buy high quality, pesticide free food.
Yet, despite sharing trends that have fuelled the vertical farming movement, Africa is yet to see a boom in the industry.
A few unique
versions are sprouting up on the continent. These show that the African
versions of vertical farms may not necessarily follow the same model of
other countries. It's important to establish what the barriers to entry
are, and what African entrepreneurs need to do to ensure more vertical
farms emerge.
Barriers to vertical farming
Initial financial
investments are huge. For example, a complete modern (6,410sqm) vertical
farm capable of growing roughly 1 million kilos of produce a year can
cost up to $80 to $100 million.
There also needs to
be upfront investment in research. Many of the successful vertical
farms in the developed world, including the one launching in the Netherlands,
invest in research before they go live. This ranges from studying the
most appropriate system that should be used to the best lighting system
and seed varieties, as well investigating the many other ingredients
that determine the success or failure of the farm.
Access to reliable
and consistent energy is another barrier. Many African cities frequently
experience power cuts and this could prove to be a big challenge for
innovators wanting to venture in vertical farming business.
Faced with these
challenges, entrepreneurs thinking of venturing into vertical farming in
Africa need to put in more thought, creativity and innovation in their
design and building methods.
They need to be
less expensive to install and maintain. They also have to take into
consideration the available local materials. For example, instead of
depending on LED lighting system, African versions can utilise solar
energy and use locally available materials such as wood. This means that
entrepreneurs should begin small and use low-tech innovations to see what works.
As innovators
locally figure out what works best for them, there will be further
variations in the vertical farms between African countries.
African versions
In Uganda, for
instance, faced with lack of financial resources to build a modern
vertical farm and limited access to land and water, urban farmers are
venturing into vertically stacked wooden crates units. These simple units consist of a central vermicomposting
chamber. Water bottles are used to irrigate the crops continuously.
These stacked simple vertical gardens consume less water and allow urban
farmers to grow vegetables such as kale to supply urban markets. At the
moment, 15 such farms have been installed in Kampala and they hope to
grow the number in the coming years.
In Kenya, sack gardens
represent a local and practical form of a vertical farm. Sack gardens,
made from sisal fibres are cheap to design and build. One sack costs
about US$0.12. Most importantly, they use local materials and fewer
resources yet give yields that help farmers achieve the same outcomes as
vertical farms in the developed world. As a result, many have turned
into sack gardening. In Kibera, for example, over 22,000 households have farmed on sacks.
Also in Kenya, Ukulima Tech
builds modern vertical farms for clients in Nairobi. At the moment it's
created four prototypes of vertical farms; tower garden, hanging
gardens, A-Frame gardens and multifarious gardens. Each of these
prototypes uses a variation of the vertical garden theme, keeping water
use to a minimum while growing vegetables in a closed and insect free
environment.
The continent has
unique opportunities for vertical farms. Future innovators and
entrepreneurs should be thinking of how to specialise growing vegetables
to meet a rise in demand of Africa's super vegetables
by urban consumers. Because of their popularity, startups are assured
of ready markets from the urban dwellers. In Nairobi, for example, these
vegetables are already becoming popular.
Feeding Africa's
rapidly growing urban population will continue to be a daunting
challenge, but vertical farming - and its variations - is one of the
most innovative approaches that can be tapped into as part of an effort
to grow fresh, healthy, nutritious and pesticide-free food for
consumers.
Now is the time for African entrepreneurs and innovators to invest in designing and building them.
Disclosure statement
Esther Ndumi
Ngumbi does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from
any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and
has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond the academic appointment
above.
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