Less than 10 percent of the volcanic Cape Verde archipelago is cultivable and almost all of the country's food is imported, according to the Ministry of Agriculture.
Hydroponics - which comes from the Greek words for water and labour - replaces soil with a nutrient solution. Hydroponics farmer Sergio Roque Monteiro told IRIN he learned to farm without soil in Brazil before moving to Cape Verde in 2000. Since 2006 he said the government and non-profit groups have asked him to train more than 100 people - but he knows of only six people who have continued soilless cultivation professionally.
