Automated Urban Hydroponic Vertical Farms
(Nigeria)
Soilless, climate-managed vertical farms supplying premium greens to urban markets designed for year-round quality, water efficiency, and youth employment.
Role
Owner, Program lead (design → deployment → training).
Systems
Towers, hydroponic soil substrate, automated dosing, filtration & UV, HVAC & dehumidification, food-safe workflows.
Outputs
Premium leafy greens & herbs; B2B retail and HORECA channels.
Challenge
Unreliable open-field supply and quality variability limited premium retail and hospitality contracts in dense urban centers.
Selected Outcomes
- Consistent weekly harvest cadence with 95% on-time order fill.
- Water use per kg reduced by up to 50% vs local open-field benchmarks.
- Rejection rate held below 10% across 5 years.
What made it different
Retail-grade quality built on SOP discipline, small-team operations, and a simple dashboard for EC/pH logs, yields, and compliance checks.
Approach
1. Site & Utility Model:
Modular footprint, load calculations, air changes, redundancy for power/water.
2. System Design:
Nutrient recipe library, EC/pH controls, sanitation SOPs, IPM for controlled environments.
3. Crop Strategy:
Varietal selection for taste, shelf life, and yield/m²; staggered seeding for steady weekly output.
4. Operations:
HACCP-aligned hygiene flow, harvest/pack micro-zones, cold-chain handoff.
5. Commercial:
SKU plan, buyer SLAs, cost-per-kg model, pricing bands, wastage thresholds.
6. Capability Building:
Operator training, youth employment pipeline, daily/weekly GMP audits.