Agricultural knowledge
Tina mostly grows tomatoes in her greenhouse. For five months, she has had a great yield, but now she removed them to let the soil recover and circulate the type of vegetables she is growing. She is discussing with Mr Achuti what would be the best crops to grow at the moment. Her tomatoes were watered twice a day, 1000 L per time for around 300 plants. She inspects the plants very often to detect insects. When these are found, insecticide is used. Her knowledge of agriculture is fine, and where knowledge lacks, she consults her attendant who works in the greenhouse, or Mr Achuti and her son.
Knowledge of water supply systems
Tina has a large rain water harvesting system. Every roof of her house is provided with gutters and sprouts that lead to large water tanks. She has an estimated storage capacity of 60 000 liters which can provide her of water for up to two months. When this is not sufficient to supply the farm in times of drought, she buys large tanks with water from the river. The collected rainwater is filtered to remove large debris before entering the storage tanks, and another filtration step takes place in the tank that supplies the water for irrigation of the greenhouse. Tina thinks of constructing a borehole, but for now this is too expensive. For the same reason, her manual pump has not been replaced for an electrical pump.
Knowledge of greenhouse farming
Tina has one attendant who takes care of the greenhouse and who followed courses on greenhouse farming. When there is a problem that cannot be solved by the attendant, Mr Achuti is called for assistance. He makes a planning to determine when the plants have to be irrigated, or when insecticide needs to be sprayed etc. The attendant keeps records of both the financial and agricultural planning. The design of the greenhouse was carefully selected by Mr. Achuti. It has a ventilation system, a lockable door, a disinfection bath for your feet and it has a good height. Next to this, Tina is well aware of the advantages of greenhouse farming. She knows she will get a very good price for her tomatoes in the dry period and is intent on using the greenhouse to attain a high yield even in the dry period. She is fond of the greenhouse, as it decreases the influence of the seasons on her yield. Furthermore, her products are of a good quality, as they are hardly affected by animals or insects.
Financial knowledge
There are records of the costs and profits and Tina can give an estimate of the revenue of her crops, which is about 3000-4000 euro in 8 months. The greenhouse was financed with personal capital. At the beginning, these costs need to be covered, but now she can start making profit. The greenhouse is not her only source of income, so she is not solely dependent on it.
Marketing knowledge
Marketing is a difficult part for Tina Rarieya. To start with, the transport of the crops is not easy as the roads are in bad shape and Tina does not own a car. She hires a motor to bring the crops to the market, where she informs about the price and uses this information to determine the price of her own crops. She also delivers to hotels, but does not have contracts with them yet. When she is well established, she wants to increase the number of contracts, so she does not have to sell her products on the market anymore.