Lesotho - The soilless gardening technique

ROMA – SO you want to grow spinach, lettuce, tomatoes, basil, parsley, strawberries and other plants/veggies in your house and without soil?
It's time to meet Mochesane Mpali, the brains behind the soilless gardening technique.
“I help people who want to grow crops anywhere they are, even inside their own houses,” Mpali says.

Using minimal space, 90 percent less water than traditional agriculture, and ingenious design, you get food in half the time.
His company is called Lema Agrivest and this is how his system works.
Plants are inserted at specific points along a plastic pipe made of PVC (Polyvinyl Chloride).
Once in 24 hours, water, rich in nutrients, is pumped from a bucket and moved alongside the PVC pipe.

It passes through the growing media whose job is just to support the plant roots and retain the moisture and nutrients as they pass through.
The plants then pick water and nutrients from the growing media for their growth.
It sounds strange because most of us are used to seeing plants grow in soil.
“Plants do not necessarily need soil to grow,” Mpali says.
“But they need water, nutrients, carbon dioxide, oxygen and light and all these are allowed in our system.”

The water that is not picked up is returned to the bucket. It is then pumped again using a submersible water pump.
This pumping happens for a few moments every 24 hours.
The water in the bucket can be exchanged only after three weeks and the wastewater can be used to fertilise compost among other things.
There are too many benefits. Here are just a few.

First, you can grow your own food even if you live in a rented house (e.g. Malaene).
That is because you can actually have this system in your house if there is little to no land where you live.
“But this system can also be used in medium to large scale greenhouses,” he said.
Since the system does not use soil, the vegetables are often free from pests, and therefore no need for pesticides.
Insects normally find pleasure in soil.

“When the system is applied in greenhouses, we normally cover the soil on the ground with plastic tarp because we don't need soil. In this way, we reduce the presence of insects and weeds which thrive in soil.”
On the other hand, since the water is recycled for almost three weeks, the system uses as little water as possible.

You also use fewer chemicals since the nutrients you use are directed to the plants' roots rather than washed away by rains as in normal gardens.
But why is Mpali doing all this?
Food is becoming ever more expensive.
In fact, when times are tough, food, clothing and shelter are the only things that matter. Anything else is a luxury.

“The story starts when I found the need to reduce my everyday expenses. Growing my own food became a choice because the price of food was ever increasing,” he said.
He found that where he stayed there was not enough space for growing food.
But going back home, where the land is spacious, would have been far more expensive.
“I got submerged into research until I discovered a hydroponics way of growing crops. In fact, I even took online courses to learn more about this farming technique.”
He later realised that the materials being recommended for use were not available in the local market, so he designed his own system using materials he could find in Lesotho and South Africa.

But his love for agriculture did not start here.
“It started when I was a little boy living with my grandparents back in Mapoteng, Phororong, in Berea district,” he said.
“At this time, my grandparents lived exclusively on farming (subsistence farming). I would even be requested to assist herdboys on weekends when I was not in school.”
When he was at St. James High School in Mokhotlong, he had to choose between taking Agriculture, Commerce or Woodwork.

He realised that agriculture was not the most popular subject among his peers.
But living with his mother who had a garden to grow vegetables, he found it would be beneficial for him to learn a thing or two about agric.
Indeed he learnt the basics that helped him approach gardening better.
College time came and he took Information Technology at Limkokwing University of Creative Technology.

He then took up a job in an IT company as a software developer.
By this time, he had almost forgotten about anything to do with Agriculture when it crossed his mind that, actually, he could grow his own food instead of buying it.
In the end, he formed a company, Lema Agrivest, because he realised he could also help others grow their own food.
He still has big plans.
“I had to start somewhere, but I have big plans to grow in this area and boost food security in Lesotho,” he said.

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