Hydroponics: Avoiding Basic Mistakes

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Poor planning and lack of management and commitment can result in certain failure when it comes to alternative crop production projects.

This week we look at a project in Parys in the Free State that failed miserably within months of start-up, despite the participants all receiving some form of training before initiating the venture.

JOB CREATION VS VIABILITY

The R6,8 million project was handed over to 12 inexperienced young growers to produce tomatoes, for which a contract was in place with one of the major supermarket chains. The project was started with a ‘permanent’ labour force of about 35 labourers/ha, which is four to five times more than the norm of seven to eight labourers/ ha for similar projects in South Africa. It was even more out of line with the international norm of five labourers/ ha for highly mechanised systems in some of the world’s most successful hydroponic tomato production units.

Over three months, the 12 growers planted one unit and part of a second before the project, consisting of 12 greenhouses, failed. The slow start-up had an immediate effect on liability as wages and salaries had to be paid over a long period before the project was supposed to come into production. This shows a lack of commitment to get the project to full production in the shortest period possible after start-up.