A new glass greenhouse will be built in Morocco. Once again, it is a university that is having a greenhouse built, but this time with a different focus than in the demo centre in Agadir. Sebastiaan Hijstek of greenhouse builder Horti XS updates us.
It was also Horti XS that built a glass greenhouse in Agadir, just after the North African country reopened after corona. With Dutch grower Richard van Schie at the helm, that project is currently running well. The focus at the demo project in Agadir? Showing how it is possible to grow with less water, using modern techniques. "They are achieving good results and collecting valuable data there about more efficient water use and also about the harvest," Sebastiaan knows.
That data, the researchers at the university in Agadir, the Institute Agronomique et Vétérinaire Hassan II, can use to further develop horticulture at home. Glass greenhouses are still quite new in Morocco, so there is still a lot to learn about this.
Greenhouse deck glass greenhouse in Agadir, the first ever built in Morocco.
Similarities and differences
With the construction of the glass greenhouse in Morocco, Horti XS gained notoriety that has now brought a second project to the greenhouse construction company headquartered in Poeldijk. "You can say to some extent that this project in Ben Guerir is similar. Here too, the greenhouse is set up for research, for the Mohammed VI Polytechnic University this time. The greenhouse consists of several sections, with which fundamental and applied research can be carried out. What they want, they can now also see locally thanks to the demo project."
So much for similarities with the project in Agadir, yet the research for which the greenhouse in Ben Guerir is mainly intended is also different. "Whereas the greenhouse in Agadir is more focused on applied research, this greenhouse is more suited to fundamental research."
Sebastian, far left, with members of the Mohammed VI Polytechnic University.
Discussions with academics
The scientists will, in the various greenhouse sections that Horti XS will build with the help of local partners, investigate numerous aspects, from plant types to bacteria. Sebastiaan, who has been on site several times, saw it with his own eyes. What is special about the project is that he has a lot of contact with scientists here. "Normally you sit at the table with the grower, now with academics. That's a big deal sometimes, but also a nice challenge. From day 1, they have been building documentation here."
The greenhouse, the construction and realisation of the foundation of which will start soon and the detailed engineering of which is currently in progress, will be equipped with all kinds of modern technology that the university does not currently have in its current greenhouse facilities. "It will have a double screen, air mechanics and mechanical cooling," the Dutch greenhouse builder lists a few points. "It will be another special project."
Preparations in full swing, January 2024.
For more information:
Sebastiaan Heijstek
Horti XS
ABC Westland 501
2685 DG Poeldijk
+31 174 257085
[email protected]
www.hortixs.com/