Story published: Sun 21 Oct 07 17:01

Morocco's Delassus Group has set up a sophisticated hydroponic solution for its cherry tomato farm Duroc, in order to preserve local water and minimise waste.

Some 250 hectares of cherry tomato plants are produced at the farm, growing in plastic containers filled with river sand. In total, it has 900km of hydroponic beds, all irrigated and fed with a nutritious solution.

Duroc, using all the help it can get from its Spanish partner Duran, has set up a unique closed-loop system to recuperate any water left over by the plants at the end of each bed, that will re-integrate into the irrigation system once analysed.

“Not only is this policy fantastic for the environment – enabling us to save more than 40 per cent of the water – but it has also driven us to a much better quality and yield at the same time,” said Fatiha Charrat, sales and marketing manager. “After much trial and error, and expensive research, we have reached an optimum solution significantly reducing water consumption, which is crucial for a country like Morocco.

“At the end of the day, all our financial efforts are paying off, as we are reducing water and fertiliser usage.”

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