The company, on all its farms, has introduced integrated pest management (IPM) and composing of bio chemicals in a bid to attain a zero maximum residue level (MRL) policy on all crops supplied. All farms are also fully drip enabled to ensure efficient utilization of water and fertilizers.

• Multi sites – The Company grows product across 4 Different sites to ensure consistency in supply, and that products are grown in the most favourable climatic condition.
• Diversified growing - Products are grown under drip, pivots, greenhouses to mitigate weather risks.
• Own farm production - The company farms Just Under 400HA of cultivated land, and produces over 90% of its exports from In house controlled production. The balance 10% is supplemented from a small group of Key Out growers.
• Packhouses - Each farm has its own packhouse thereby reducing the need to transport raw material, and ensuring cold chain management!
  
  

Multi growing

We adopt different techniques as follows:

• Drip farming : To ensure economical usage of water and avoiding loss due to evaporation
• Pivot farming: To enable beans production during dry and hot spells thus continuous supply.
• Greenhouses: Ensures all year round production for herbs, chillies, mangetout/snaps.
• Rotations: We grow more than 20 crops and system of crop rotation allows the soil to regenerate before the same crop is planted back. The crops are ploughed back to enrich the soil.
  
  

Water conservation

• 75% of all the Irrigation is drip Irrigation, and thereby significantly reducing the amount of water used for production.
• In each farm we have dams/reservoirs to store surplus water during rainy season.
  • Simba 180,000m3
  • Chestnut farm 250,000 m3
  • Turi 180,000m3
  • Thika 1.4 million m3
• Catchment reservoir proposed to harvest runoff from greenhouses.
• Wet land areas to be sited to filter water.
• Self regulating weir at the river intake (Simba farm) utilized to ensure that water is drawn from the river only when enough amounts can flow to the communities downstream.
  
  

Energy

Where ever practical, solar power is being installed to reduce power usage:

• All lights on solar power.
• Vegetable office on solar.
• Packhouse lights on solar.
• Electric fence powered by solar.
• Police camp on solar.
• Solar heating and lights on new managers’ quarters.
• Packhouses’ lighting will be converted to LED solar lights.
  
  

Crop protection

• We are now using about 40% bio pesticides as our crop protection products, targeting 50% before year end. We are working with Koppert biological, Real IPM, etc.
• Beneficial insects are used both in the greenhouses and on some outdoor crops.
• Continual trial assessments of new bio pesticides products being undertaken.
• All crop residues are incorporated back into the soil.
• Rotational crop management followed.
• Insectaries established alongside blocks.
• Pheromone trap trials also being evaluated.
  
  

Environment conservation

• In all the farms, there are adequate buffer zones left as insectaries, animals’ corridors and beetle banks these are treated as no spray zones.
• Where the farms bonder wildlife conservation areas, electric fences have been put to minimise human/ wildlife conflicts.
• We are working closely with Kenya wildlife service and Kenya Forestry service to conserve the animals and other natural resources close to our reach.
• All the farms have conformed to the national regulation of 10% tree cover on each farm. we target to continuously increase this through yearly planting.
• Windbreaks being established alongside greenhouses and along access roads.
• Perimeter road along fence line acts as firebreak.
• Records of fauna and flora being kept and monitored.

 

Natural farm production

• Wormery established to produce tea.
• Compost from waste flowers and vegetables also established to return back and improve fertility and condition of vegetable blocks.
• Apiary being setup to help improve pollination and produce honey.
• Tree nursery being established to grow various tree species and other plants.