Mary John, Nsanje - Sustainable Energy for Rural Communities (SE4RC)
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Authors
Elizabeth Dunn
Issue Date
2014-09
Type
Language
en
Keywords
Agriculture , Energy
Alternative Title
Abstract
Sustainable Energy for Rural Communities (SE4RC) Mary John lives in the remote and rural village of Nyakambiro in the Nsanje District of Malawi. She is a single parent and has 5 children. "My self and children, we do not have enough food in our house. The plans I have to provide for my children is to fetch firewood, sell it for money and use the money to buy food." "I do not receive any food aid but some members in my community do. I need one bag of maize per month for my family." "I get sick myself and the children. Common diseases are malaria, fatigue and fever." "For myself to have a better life, I need to continue farming." Mary currently relies on farming to produce crops to sell and to feed her family, although at the moment she is not able to produce enough for either and so has to find other ways to do so. "Apart from farming, I can engage or start small scale businesses." Currently, Mary relies on the use of a treadle pump to irrigate her land, although this does not enable her to irrigate enough of her land. It is labour intensive and stops her from being able to look after her family. Agriculture has the potential to help Mary produce enough food for her family and to sell but is currently delivering far below its potential. Agricultural production is severely affected by poor access to water in Nsanje District, small-holder farmers are only able to cultivate less than 10% of the total irrigable land because they rely on manually operated treadle pumps, fed from shallow wells. Deep underground water is readily available but currently and frustratingly remains out of reach to Mary and the local communities. Solar-powered water pumps would be able to turn this around. Solar-powered pumps will enable Mary to irrigate her land without having to use a treadle pump. She will be able to spend the extra 5 hours a day that she is not using the pump, caring for her family and generating an income through small-scale business. Mary will no longer have to worry about her and fer family going hungry.