"The greenhouse is finished and the plants are being planted right now", says Bob Andersen of Mount Elgon Orchards (The Elgon Collection), who grows roses in Kitale at an altitude of 2,000 meters above sea level. They added 2ha to their 41 ha greenhouse complex, which brings the total acreage under plastic at 43ha.
The greenhouse, that was built by Amiran, was completed last week and the plants are now being planted. The plants are not being planted in the soil, but are grown on cocos. "In the past, this land was used for the production of apples. As apple trees are from the same family as rose plants, we could not plant them in the ground", explains Andersen. However, growing roses in cocos isn't something new for Andersen. He is already growing roses in cocos on 15 ha that was also used for apple production in the past.
The total acreage under plastic now is 43 ha. Do you want to expand further? "We do not want to exceed 45 ha and with this number of hectares, we can still run our farm on hydroelectric energy and stay 95 percent self-sufficient on power consumption."
Over the last months, Kenya suffered from heavy rains. Fortunately, the construction process did not suffer from the heavy rainfall and was completed in time.