Water as a managed input, on a site where water decided everything.
Nairobi, Kenya. Single tunnel with rainwater collection and drip irrigation, 350,000 square metres.
Situation Source record
Rainwater collection and single tunnel growing of tomatoes using drip irrigation.
Challenge
Grow tomatoes reliably on a site where water, not land, decided whether the operation could exist.
What JYCO examined
Water as the governing constraint. Rainwater collection and drip irrigation under a single tunnel made water a managed input rather than a risk, on a footprint where the irrigation model decided whether tomatoes could be grown reliably at all.
Issues identified
One variable, water, governed the site. Rainwater capture, storage and drip delivery had to be designed as one system before any crop decision made sense. Variables in play: water, structure, crop.
Approach
Find the one variable that governs the site and design around it. It is rarely the one the vendor optimised for.