Obliterating Hunger: Groasis Waterboxx Grows Plants in the Desert

Pieter Hoff, a tulip grower from Holland, has developed a spectacularly interesting social innovation called the Groasis Waterboxx, which aims to address the difficulties associated with growing trees and plants in arid areas by capturing condensation and rainwater, and transferring this to the plant over a period of time without requiring any groundwater or electricity.

In a presentation he made at PopTech, Hoff describes how the problems of world hunger and global warming can be mitigated through harnessing stretches of desert. “One of six billion people on earth don’t get enough to eat,” he says. “There is a possibility to feed these people.”

After devising his invention in Holland, over a period of 4 years, Hoff tested it in the Sahara desert -- 88 percent of the trees he tried it on lasted. He then decided to market his invention for commercial use – the beginning of his company AquaPro Holland.

The box has a wide double opening, mimics a plants capillary action, by planting two seeds in a box on top of (rather than in a hole in) the soil. The box captures condensation and rain water, and distributes to this to the plant over a much longer period of time – one day or 4 inches of rain can be distributed over a period of one year. By this time, Hoff says, the plant or tree is far more established and is far more likely to be able to take care of itself thereon.