How to grow fodder for your livestock without soil!

A mat of barley on an aluminum tray

Childhood best friends Wachira Mwangi and Samuel Mbugua are teaching farmers a technique that may sound like the stuff of science fiction — growing crops without the use of soil and making a tidy sum out of it.

After a series of boring jobs and failed businesses the 26-year old   University of Nairobi-trained biochemists tried to rear pigs early last year but the venture proved too expensive for the fresh graduates. 

“We just wanted to keep a few pigs and see how it goes,” says Wachira, “but our biggest problem was the cost of feeding them. That was when my best friend Sam suggested that we grow our own fodder using a rare technology known as hydroponics”. 

Producing your cooking gas and electricity using waste such as water hyacinth, cow dung, chicken droppings etc.

The Centre is a rugged enclave of wild charm. Lush untrimmed grass springs up from every corner, ancient logs browned by termite mounds dot the ground. Heavy with leaves, trees bow to the waist. Hanging vines languorously sprawl over the compound. A section of the chain-link fence sags insouciantly like a rebellious schoolboy who’s refused to take his hands out of his pocket. The odd number of cars in various states of disrepair lying around, accessories its rustic aesthetic. Perhaps it borrows its laid back spirit from its founder, Dominic Wanjihia,