Youths promote vertical gardening in Urban Centers to enhance food security » Capital News

NAIROBI, Kenya Feb 12 – “Necessity is the mother of invention.” This is the adage that two cousins came up with when they invented the ‘Vertical Gardening’ system that seeks to help city dwellers to enhance food security.

And although vertical gardening is not entirely a new concept, Fred Mwithiga and Fred Kimani started the business with the aim of handling farming in a ‘digital’ way.

“We came up with the idea of ‘let’s grow food without soil’ that’s what we call hydroponics. The reason why we like it is because we have grown up in a farm all our lives, but we wanted to come back to agriculture in a way that was relevant to ourselves and that was cool to us,” said Mwithiga, Co-founder Vertical Gardens.

Hydroponic farming is a method of growing plants without soil. Instead, you use mineral nutrient solutions in a water solvent.

Plants don’t require soil to grow, they need water and nutrients by standing with their roots in a nutrient-rich solution they can do without soil altogether.

“There is a solution for everyone depending on what you want to grow. We have hydroponics fertilizers and vermicompost in case you decide to use either organic or inorganic way of farming,”

With the shrinking spaces for agriculture due to urbanization and an ever-growing population, the new passion of vertical gardening was quite timely. They started the trials in 2018 and commenced the business in 2020.

The kick to boost this new venture was the Corona Virus pandemic, everyone was scampering for Organic foods and how best was it to grow the food in your own compound or balcony with a limited space.

“We thought you know what, everyone is locked down. Most people became health conscious on where their food is coming from. This new concept helps you not deal with the burden of agriculture that comes with weeding, pest management and watering as it is an automated system,” noted Mwithiga.

As at the end of 2021, they have so far sold 200 gardens which include vertical pouch garden, vertical stacked garden, vertical tower garden among others.

Mwithiga elaborates that this type of farming can be sustainable to provide vegetables to households, with 90 percent of their customers being from Urban areas.

“Whether you live in a low-cost area or semi-arid area this system works for all this situation. All the water is recycled and cost effective in terms of labor you don’t need to employ anyone for this system,” he said.

A vertical pouch garden which can essentially be situated in your balcony or any tiny spaces in your house can grow vegetables like lettuce, spinach, spring onion, herbs, celery and strawberry

The two cousins have tailored made the vertical gardens looking into the specification of the client.

In the company Mwithiga the man behind public relations in the day to day operations while Kimani is the one behind the design and automated system of watering having done engineering.

Despite it being a different mode of farming, there exist no magic when it comes to getting yields.

“People are used to instant gratification, if you need something you just dial a number and you have it. We need to look back and see what you are consuming is not healthy for you,” Mwithiga mentioned.

The business aspect of Vertical gardening is not a walk in the park given that the concept has not been adapted as much in the country.

The company working in earnest to ensure consumer awareness on the benefits of vertical gardening at a time when the globe is facing the challenge of food insecurity and climate change as well as market training.

“We believe that we are here for the long haul with time it will pick up. If we are able to grow food in the urban areas, we will be moving way ahead. We have to be smart on how we are using our water and again this kind of farming can help purify the air in our urban areas if implemented in large scale,” Mwithiga noted.