Having set up greenhouses in 2018 to plant Brunei’s first Japanese muskmelons, Superfish Growers are now unveiling their latest pioneering pursuit: the sultanate’s first indoor strawberry vertical farm.
Located on the same site as their melon farm at the Agrotechnology Park in Kg Tungku, Superfish’s strawberry farm is a compact setup – with a floor space much smaller than a residential house – featuring 2,000 plants spread across four vertical racks, each five stories tall.
Co-founder and CTO of Superfish Lee Wei Sheng said they’ve been experimenting with their pilot setup since 2019, having outlined two initial commercial goals: to export their own patented system of farming strawberries and to set up a commercial farm of 10,000 to 15,000 plants by next year, capable of producing 40 tonnes to 60 tonnes of strawberries every eight months.
Lee explained that the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated their focus on developing their vertical farm system, as rising logistics costs and food shortages globally increased their viability as an option to reduce dependency on imports and bolster local production. “The idea we want to explore here is can we implement farming systems that will allow us to grow more valuable crops locally, closer to consumers?” he said.
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