We are very excited to announce a new project between TBI and Water and Energy for Food (WE4F) that will develop a new borehole near TBI-Ileret, a novel solar powered Reverse Osmosis (RO) system, and an expansion of our hydroponic farming to benefit the local community.

TBI-Ileret from the air.

WE4F is a partnership between the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

The partnership seeks to increase access to food through efficient use of water and energy, provide income streams for people at the bottom of the economic pyramid, and promote environmental sustainability in the technologies and processes employed by farmers.

TBI’s contribution to these goals will be to demonstrate and subsequently disseminate sustainable technologies for water purification and cultivation of nutritious crops. We will also use these activities to foster new research programmes in nutrition, agriculture, water testing, and water treatment technology development.

Michael provides an overview of our hydroponics operation to guests.

Building off the success of TBI-Turkwel’s hydroponic farm, the project will run for 2 years, and will include installation of a reverse osmosis system that can produce up to 20,000 litres of water per day, expansion of TBI Ileret hydroponic farming, and use of the farm for training local community members. The project will also supply water to the local community following the creation of a locally-managed water user’s association.

Spinach growing out of its hydroponic “plumbing.”