Inside a solar power and hydroponic station in Tongogara Refugee Camp (TRC) in southeastern Zimbabwe, Francine Mashimango grows thousands of fruit and veg.
She is looking at a month-old lettuce grown in a deep water culture system of hydroponics, with a white dress and a black jersey to protect herself from the brutal June cold,.
The single mother of eight children run away from the conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2018.
The police in Zambia arrested Francine with her children for breaking immigration laws in Binga in Zimbabwe. So she found refuge at TRC in Chipinge district.
“The rebels took my husband in 2016, forcing him to join them. I do not even know if he is still alive or not”
says Mashimango in Swahili.
Mashimango, a smallholder farmer in DRC, tried to establish a backyard garden at her home in the camp but with no success as water is nearly a kilometre away.
In November 2021, she became one of the pioneer smallholder farmers in a solar power and hydroponic station established by World Vision Zimbabwe.
WVZ is a humanitarian organisation with funding from the UN World Food Programme (WFP).
What is solar power and hydroponic?
Hydroponics, a soilless cultivation technique that enables plant growth in arid areas or in urban areas, uses up to 90 per cent less water and 75 per cent less space than conventional farming.
Hydroponics techniques also encourage plants to grow up to two times faster, according to an WFP expert.
At TRC there are about 70 farmers who grow various vegetables and fruits such as tomatoes, cucumbers and lettuce in greenhouses in an area the size of a football field powered by solar energy.
They use two types of hydroponics systems including the deep water culture (DWC) and the drip system also known as the Dutch bucket system.
“Deep Water Culture is a simple and efficient hydroponics technique. The plant grows in a pot filled with a few clay pebbles. The roots immersed in a water-based mineral solution are constantly oxygenated by an air pump.”
explains a World Food Programme official.
The Dutch bucket system, the official adds, uses two or more growing containers connected to the same irrigation and drainage lines that provide oxygenation and nutrients.
The leftover solution then flows back into the reservoir for reuse.
I use the time elsewhere.
Francine Mashimango
A mother of eight and refugee who fled the conflict in DRC.
Mashimango, who is part of the team doing routine check-ups every morning, says the hydroponic technique requires less labour.
“I do not have to carry buckets on top of my head to water the plant. We rarely do anything here. I use the time elsewhere.”
says Mashimango cracking jokes in her mother tongue Swahili
How productive is solar power and hydroponics?
The hydroponic project at TRC has a capacity to produce about 11,800 heads of lettuce and 500 cucumber plants in one harvesting cycle in the five greenhouses, according to the WFP.
“Hydroponics is a potentially useful tool to overcome some of the challenges of traditional agriculture in the face of freshwater shortages, climate change and soil degradation in urban areas”.
Louis Muhigirwa, a deputy Food and Agriculture Organisation representative in Zimbabwe
What happens on cloudy days?
Both systems at TRC require power to keep on supplying oxygen and nutrients to the plants. The system needs constant power to control the temperature in the greenhouse.
Solar panels charge batteries that pump water from underground to tanks and to the hydroponics system in the greenhouse.
“When it is cloudy the system shuts down after the batteries run out of power,”
says Peter Banzvi Chakaamba, 48, who arrived in TRC four years ago after fleeing conflict in neighbouring Mozambique.
To not run out of power during cloudy days they need more solar panels and better storage.
Muhigirwa adds that some types of hydroponic systems also require a continuous and reliable power supply, as plant roots can dry out quickly if pumps or sprays fail.
From growing veg to striking deals: Where does the hydroponics produce go?
The smallholder farmers supply their produce to top retail outlets in Chipinge town and markets within the TRC.
“We teach the farmers continuously about market connections.”
A WFP official says
Understanding how local economies and markets function enables them to identify the best ways to sell their produce.
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“After selling the products we share the money equally. I use the money to buy clothes for my family”
Mashimango says
“At one time we had so many vegetables that we donated to the disadvantaged including the elderly in the camp.”
Ilanga Kabongo the 44-year-old, who fled from rebels trying to force him to join the war in DRC in 2015, says.
The smallholder farmers take some vegetables for family consumption in their homes, once every week, he added.
Hydroponics could be a ‘climate change buster’
“The cost of a profitable hydroponics to delivers at a local rural scale needs to be explored. If going to be measured against economic considerations, any investment will need to be supported technically and financially.”
Paul Zakariya, Zimbabwe Farmers Union executive director, says
Zakariya says the government, and private sector including financial institutions, should support the adoption of hydroponics technology.
We need hydroponics technologies to promote high levels of productivity without needing a large piece of land.
Lands Ministry permanent secretary John Bhasera says
“We need such technologies to still promote high levels of productivity without necessarily needing a large piece of land. This may be a climate change buster targeting urban areas and rural areas.”
Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Resettlement says
The government will be targeting household nutrition and household income, he says.
Meanwhile, Mashimango dreams of one day owning a farm to venture into farming full-time.
“I hope to own a piece of land and I will use the skills and knowledge gained in this hydroponics project to grow vegetables on a large scale”
she says
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