Sustainable electricity
Loading...
Authors
Annie Halliman
Issue Date
2016-04
Type
Language
en
Keywords
Energy
Alternative Title
Abstract
Africa Mate is 52 and lives and works on an irrigated farm, on the Shashi River, near to the border of Botswana in Zimbabwe. Working together with a local partner (Dubane Trust) to implement the Sustainable Electricity 4 Rural Communities (SE4RC) project to benefit 157 farmers across three schemes, local Extension Worker, Africa told us:- “We grow tomatoes, cabbages, potatoes, maize and butternut squash and elephants are the first challenge we face as they break down the water system and trample and eat the crops. We spend sleepless nights, scaring them away. Other wild animals such as baboons also break down the irrigation canals. To help, we would need an electric fence rather than a normal fence. Farmers could pay for the electricity for this fence. We also need a night storage tank as a back-up in case the solar pump system breaks down. This will ensure food security. We do not want to rehabilitate the existing broken open canals as they are less effective and use more water than other systems, such as sprinkler system. A sprinkler system is cheaper, and this or a drip system also uses less energy and conserves water. We’re also concerned that if the channels are used, people will drink from them. We get lots of things like snails in them and people would get ill, so we would have better health without rehabilitating the old channel system. The roads also need repairing as we have difficulty transporting goods to market. There is a big dip in the road and the trucks find it very difficult to cross this to collect the garden produce to take to market. We would also like to set up an energy kiosk here for farmers to have access to electricity when they are farming and a place to rest, it could also be used to run a small business for the farmers, charging other community members for re-charging their things.” The SE4RC project is being implemented in areas that are extremely poor and remote. They are not connected to the national electricity grid and unlikely to ever be connected because of their remoteness. However, using the abundant, free resource of the sun for solar voltaic panels to power pumps, water can be drawn from significantly deeper depths than a treadle pump that were being used before. Instead of spending up to six to seven hours incessant pumping to irrigate their farms per day, farmers can be using this valuable time to do other things like household chores, start small businesses, and attend to their children. Furthermore children can also attend school. With this technology the farmers can be sure of a viable and consistent supply of water for their crops. The irrigated farm is situated by the River Sashi, and when the river is dry you can walk across to Botswana. Many younger members of the Mashaba community do this to find work, leaving the women and older members of the community behind in the village. The farm originally had irrigation channels put into place by the local council many years ago. These channels still remain, but are in dis-repair and no longer work. The garden is currently watered by getting buckets of water from the river, or when it is dry digging into the sand to get water. Practical Action are working with the community and the local council to rehabilitate the irrigation scheme and are finalizing discussions on the most appropriate system (sprinkler, drip or channel rehabilitation) with the local council and community.