An Agricultural Company Increases Its Cherry Production In

AN AGRICULTURAL COMPANY INCREASES ITS CHERRY PRODUCTION IN THE MOST DIFFICULT YEAR

The company reaches 14% production increase despite the challenges of the current situation

The difficulties and new actual challenges due to the expansion of coronavirus have not been able to overcome The Looije SL Producers Organization that has closed the year 2020 with a 14% turn over growth. The agricultural company from Águilas (Murcia, Spain) is specialized in marketing of cherry tomatoes and has maintained its progressive line during the last 5 years. “We are proud to see that our work and determined commitment to quality and innovation is now rewarded by consumers,” said Juan José López, CEO of O.P. Looije, regarding the improvements that high-tech investments in recent years have brought to the entire production process. This is the case of the new Looije Aguilas greenhouse, a project in collaboration with Novagric, company specialized in the industrial development of integrated projects for high-yield sustainable agriculture, where the performance of these technological greenhouses facilities has resulted in a significant increase in productivity. The greenhouse installed by Novagric for the company Looije is fully technologically equipped for cherry tomato production. It is a turn-key project with an area of 51,280 m2 with double ¼ cenital and perimeter ventilation, designed to optimize the maximum solar radiation inlet. To do this, possible obstacles to the passage of light have been minimized with other techniques that ensure stability and the arches of the greenhouse have been white lacquered with a higher opening to optimize the inlet of solar radiation. The irrigation system used is hydroponic with gutters suspended from the greenhouse structure itself. Novagric is committed to the technological, sustainable and cost-effective development of agriculture, and for this purpose has expanded its facilities to offer the best service to agricultural organizations and have a great response capacity to take on all kinds of national and international projects. «Thanks to the new innovation and showroom center installed in Alhama (Murcia, Spain) allows us to test all new technological developments to ensure effectiveness in crop profitability and productivity. » explains Juan Pardo, head of the technical department of NOVAGRIC. «These are the main reasons why companies like Looije bet on developing the project with us obtaining great results, together with our great competitive advantages, which is to offer a complete project from design, manufacture, assembly, installation to agronomic advice to make everything easier for our customers. » www.novagric.com novagric@novagric.com

VENDAVID: A partner you can trust in agricultural produce vending machines

Humanity has been on a journey to evolve since time immemorial. Back then, probably one of man's first innovation was to utilize fire. Now, in the 21st century, we've had so many leaps in technology that most of our world is accessible through the touch of a button.

One of the earliest technologies for humanity was in the 1st century when there was the invention of the vending machine. The earliest known vending machine was the work of a Roman Egyptian mathematician and engineer who invented the machine that could dispense holy water when a coin was deposited. Fast forward centuries later, we find such machines that dispense snacks, in colleges, corporate places and even airports, same principle and mechanics being used. Previously manufactured by Inagra, vegetable vending machines have hit the market, which we may say was needed by the consumer. Though in 2017 Vendavid has taken to develop and produce ultra-solid fruit and vegetable vending machines.

Vendavid and Inagra continue to work side by side, this has ensured that the consumer has easier access to fresh produce. In the words of Vendavid Business Manager, Christopher David "Anyone who sells via an agricultural vending machine also satisfies consumers who want to buy their products as fresh as possible directly from the farm"

One of Vendavid's machines, the potato vending machine is an electrical machine that once installed is immediately ready for use, be it at farms, marketplaces or gas stations.

Vendavid is leading the market in the sector's innovation, their machine having a small chance of malfunctioning hence their 2-year warranty on the machines, having for other products a capacity of 184 products and for products such as potatoes the vending machines take up to 700 kgs. If you are looking for a way to sell more fruit and vegetables directly from the farm to the consumer, then choose Vendavid.

NGO calls for government’s support for women in agriculture

The Centre for Women in Agriculture and Nutrition (CWAN), a Non-governmental Organisation, has called on the government to prioritise the needs of women in agriculture to help improve the food and nutrition needs of the country. It said women contributed more than 50 per cent to the growth of the agricultural sector but that they were challenged with factors such as access to mechanization services and credit facilities.

This was contained in a statement signed by Mr Emmanuel Wullingdool, Executive Director of CWAN on the occasion of the International Women’s Day celebration and copied to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Wa. The day is set aside by the UN to celebrate the achievement of women in areas of economic, social, and other spheres of humanity. This year’s commemoration was on the theme “Women in Leadership: Achieving Equal Future in a Covid-19 World”.

“We wish to use this occasion to call on Governments, particularly the Government of Ghana, to work towards removing the bottlenecks that prevent women from accessing support services in the Agriculture sector. “Particularly issues of access to Agriculture mechanization services, access to credit and access to land”, the statement said.

It noted that addressing those inequalities would help ensure a more food and nutrition secured country and world, a pre-condition for building a stronger immune system against the Covid-19. “A recent Agriculture census conducted in Ghana indicated that there are more female than males in Agriculture households in Ghana. The census report further indicated that higher proportion of males than females own and use agriculture equipment”, it added.

While congratulating women for their contribution to global food security amidst the Covid-19 pandemic, the statement noted that women contributed greatly to the food and Nutrition security of the African continent.