It's quite a sight to enter the plastic tunnel from the chilly and barren landscape of Beaufort West to find rows upon rows of thriving green plants.
In the greenhouse, Pumla Mankayi is checking the plants for disease.
Conditions in the hydroponics greenhouse are ideal for the spread of plant disease, she explains.
Mankayi wears her white overalls with the Beaufort West Hydroponics Company logo proudly. She is one of 14 staff employed at this new company.
For eight months she has been part of the team that was trained in this intensive method of cultivation.
It's changed her life. Previously unemployed, Mankayi is delighted to be part of the new business venture and shows me around with confidence. She says she now has good reason to stay on in Beaufort West and contribute to her family's income.
"It's made a big difference. And one day I'll make the tunnels and teach people how to grow plants in them."
This project to grow herbs for local and international retailers was made possible by a provincial government investment of R2,7-million.
But it's not a welfare payout: in the next financial year this Section 21 company (or not for profit organisation) will be on its own, a fully-fledged business that must operate on business principles.
It has taken many months and many partnerships for the project to get this far. The objective is job creation and economic development in this central Karoo area, which has been identified as one of several poverty "pockets" in the province.
The money came from the provincial government's departments of economic development and tourism, and social services and poverty alleviation. The Beaufort West municipality provided land and basic services and the Council for Scientific and Industrial Reasearch (CSIR) has managed the project, with the Association of Intensive Plant Production at the University of Stellenbosch as its technical partner.
The provincial government has identified 20 poverty "pockets" in the urban and rural areas.
"If we had to rely on market forces, no one would invest in these areas," says Fay Darsey of the department of economic development. "We are not supply driven. We look at areas of potential, and what local activities are happening."
Projects with potential to become viable commercial enterprises are identified and the department then supports them, sourcing funding for feasibility studies and business plans and mentoring staff until they can operate on their own. The criteria are that projects must be community-based and sustainable.
As it is a Section 21 company, all profits from the Beaufort West Hydroponics Company will be ploughed back into the local community, or used to expand the production facility for value-added activities on the site.
You can't miss the large white plastic hydroponics tunnels as you drive into Beaufort West from the south. Access to the 1 600m2 greenhouse is limited because disease is an ever-present threat. Upon entering you're asked to wash your hands and wipe your shoes.
Hydroponics, explains Alan Webb, one of the managers of the project from the CSIR, is the name given to growing plants in anything other than soil. This project uses coir.
Nutrients are mixed into the water outside the plant and delivered to the plant's roots of via an irrigation system. This technology uses less water than any other way of growing plants - which makes it ideal for the arid Karoo.
The method is used extensively in Spain and Israel. Other advantages are that hydroponics needs only a small area (hence no deforestation) and can be used in places with no arable soil.
Plants can be grown year round in this climate-controlled environment, and there are higher crop yields than conventional cultivation.
A wet wall and electric fans keep the room cool, and mobile aluminium netting keeps the temperature within the required range of 2°C to 30°C.
Petrus Langenhoven, of the Association of Intensive Plant Production, says that although production is not considered organic, the aim is to be as environmentally friendly as possible. All pesticides used are certified organic and excess water and chemicals are captured and recycled.
This project has elected to grow herbs because of increasing market demand and because they are a high-value crop. Crops currently include basil, mint, dill, coriander, rocket and sorrel.
The herbs are grown to international standards for local and export markets and there has been interest from two major local retail groups and an international buyer.
Nine of the 14 employees in the greenhouse team were previously unemployed and depended on state maintenance grants.
Their activities over the past months have included four weeks in Stellenbosch learning how to operate the facility; clearing piles of rubble; shovelling dirt; beautifying the site and spending long hours in the greenhouse, sometimes harvesting from 5am.
It's been hard work, but worth it, says Mankayi, grinning from ear to ear. The business has been established and now it's over to the team to show their mettle.
As Western Cape Minister of Economic Development Ebrahim Rasool said at the launch of the project: "We have not simply cleared a path to the door, we have also opened the door.
"Now you must walk through the door and play by the rules."