Hydroponics allows family to become first Saudi tomato exporter

Hydroponics allows family to become first Saudi tomato exporter

A family company has become the first exporter of tomatoes from Saudi Arabia, thanks to drip irrigation, which has made sending fruit and vegetables from the Gulf to lucrative European markets economically viable.  Dava, a private company set up by the Batal family in 2017, began exporting various types of tomato and “snack peppers” – […]

Water technology is economically viable

Saudi family becomes first exporter

Europe is lucrative market

A family company has become the first exporter of tomatoes from Saudi Arabia, thanks to drip irrigation, which has made sending fruit and vegetables from the Gulf to lucrative European markets economically viable. 

Dava, a private company set up by the Batal family in 2017, began exporting various types of tomato and “snack peppers” – small sweet peppers – in February, in a partnership with Lehmann & Troost, a Dutch trading enterprise. 

The company intends to broaden its export offering over the coming year to include mushrooms, strawberries, cucumber, lettuce, spinach and herbs.

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The company grows its tomatoes in hydroponic greenhouses in the Al-Kharj oasis south of Riyadh which use far less water than soil-based systems. 

Hydroponics is the technique of growing plants using a water-based