Hamid Ayodeji
Wells Hosa Green House Farms has launched a Hydroponic Technology, a method of growing plants in controlled environments, using mineral nutrients in water and no soil.
The technology is created from different systems integrated by irrigation, fertilisation and pest control, to obtain increase in the plants growth and nutrients, as compared with traditional open field methods.
The firm explained that the technology had been positioned to help revolutionise the tomato industry in Nigeria and impact the entire agricultural sector of the nation.
The chief executive of Wells Hosa Farm, Captain Hosa Okunbor, said this in a speech he delivered in Benin.
“Also, it aims at satisfying both domestic and export demand of horticultural products and increasing non-oil exports in the international market which will change the situation of agriculture in Nigeria whilst immensely diversifying our economy. “The Wells Hosa Green House Farms intends to replicate its scalable and modular production model in other states of the country.
“It is expected to employ thousands of people, including youths and women that will be engaged in the production of various types of vegetables for local consumption as well as export, making it the largest of its kind in West Africa, with 27 hectares of land, which has a housing capacity for 28 Hydroponic Greenhouses, each of 5440 square metres and an estimated production value of 4,200 tons per year as well as an estimated projected revenue of 5 million dollars per year.
“The Nigerian economy has grown three times its size and the agricultural sector has contributed more than 27 per cent of this expansion. However, the agricultural sector accounts for only nine per cent of export while crude oil accounts for over 70 per cent. “It is estimated that Nigeria imports $360 million annually of tomatoes, this first Wells Hosa Greenhouse project is not even scratching the surface, we still have a lot of work to do around the country to ensure self sufficiency and import substitution whilst generating our own dollar inflows through exports,” he stated.
