Climate Change Stressors: Advantages to Affordable Greenhouses
The African continent is vulnerable to climate change due to a multitude of environmental stressors and low adaptive capacity. Climate change stresses agriculture though rising temperatures, changing precipitation patterns, and many more factors. Affordable greenhouse solutions work on a small, sustainable scale to mitigate some of the effects of climate change and provide strategies for smallholder farmers to adapt to the changing environment. Greenhouses cannot reverse climate change, but they are well suited to increase the adaptive capacity of the agricultural sector in developing nations.
As the world’s population grows, the issue of food security is exacerbated, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa where one in three people are malnourished. Additionally, crop yields in Africa are expected to drop over the next decade. Farmers need ways to counteract these challenges in order to improve food security and protect their livelihoods both now, and in the future. One accessible option is an affordable greenhouse, a structure covered in plastic or glass that lengthen growing seasons and increase food production. They allow for year round crop production and reduce growing time, increasing overall crop yields. In addition, water consumption is reduced. Low-cost greenhouses are particularly important because they are more accessible than other agricultural technologies to farmers who need them most. Large commercial greenhouses operate in many parts of Sub-Saharan Africa, but their cost makes them inaccessible to many small-scale farmers.
There are five major climate change stressors whose impact can be mitigated with affordable greenhouses: rising temperatures and increased climate variability, changing precipitation rates, soil vulnerability, increased pests and crop disease, and elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide. Greenhouses give farmers increased control over the growing environment. Farmers can actively maintain proper growing temperature by opening and closing the glazing. Reduced water consumption, and the ability to implement a drip irrigation system are invaluable to farmers in areas where drought is common, and the glazing also protects crops from heavy rains.
Greenhouses are designed to create a controlled climate for optimal agricultural productivity. As climate change stressors challenge small-scale agriculture, affordable greenhouses can empower farmers to control their evolving environment and remain productive in the face of a changing environment. Greenhouses can’t stop climate change or reverse the stressors, but they give smallholder farmers the tools and income to mitigate the effects of climate change on a community level. Affordable greenhouses are an appropriate agricultural technology for the Sub-Saharan African context because of their relatively low barriers to implementation and their potential benefits to farmers operating in a variety of Sub-Saharan African climates.
Research Research Research
Yesterday, all the research teams split up and spent the last full day in Zimba gathering as much data as possible. The community health worker team went back to the health post to continue helping with Children’s Health Week, while learning more about the local CHW system. The indigenous knowledge research team tagged along to the event and were able to find someone to give them a tour of a nearby commercial farm. They gained a new perspective on different types of farming carried out in Zimba and even returned with some spicy chilies and for everyone to try, especially Khanjan with his affinity for hot foods. The product perception research team headed into the market with our cook, Susan, and leveraged her network to collect more data. Luckily she was kind enough to aid in the process by translating our questions to Tonga and their answers back to English.
Everyone finished up their research quests in time to meet for an educational meeting with the new greenhouse owners. Unfortunately, it seemed the key stakeholders were unable to attend at that time so we rescheduled the meeting for the following morning. On the second try we had all the necessary participants present and jumped into a discussion. During the hour and a half exchange we clearly defined a business model, encouraged an incentive system for those involved, and went over the important differences between open air farming and greenhouse farming. Afterwards, we got a group photo in front of the new greenhouse and bid our new friends adieu, promising to return sometime in the near future to see how everything pans out.
Once the meeting was over we hustled back to the mission house to collect our things and head off to Choma. Upon arrival, we sat down for lunch at a local restaurant to build up energy before conducting more research. The indigenous knowledge and product perception research teams met with Kelvin and ventured into a residential area, while others transcribed previous interviews and stocked up on groceries. Tomorrow the CHW team will be heading to the local hospital as they further their understanding of rural medicine in Zambia. Everyone will be back at it in the early morning in hopes of collecting a substantial amount of data before we move on to our next destination.
“The Smoke That Thunders”
After several days of exhausting construction and countless interviews, both HESE teams were grateful to take a day to relax. In the early morning we put the finishing touches on the greenhouse and went over the quality control checklist with our carpenter, Kelvin, to make sure everything was properly squared away.
Almost There!
The past two days the greenhouse team was able to pour cement for the beams, assemble the structure, and begin to nail down the glazing. The community health worker team met with the director of CHWs, Clara, and learned about the rural health system in the local area. We’ve all been so hard at work we could hardly wait to crawl into bed at night.
Running on high hopes and spicy spaghetti, the HESE team tackled a multitude of tasks today. The day began bright and early for everyone. Half of the greenhouse team finished tacking on the glazing, the insect net, and the door to the structure. A few things took a little longer than expected, but by sunset it was almost entirely complete. Tomorrow morning, the finishing touches will be added and we will have completed our first pilot greenhouse in Zambia – and the overall HESE teams’ fourth!
While construction progressed, five students traveled to the village of Luesi to participate in the nationwide Children’s Health Week during their bi-annual children’s vaccination clinic. After a thirty-five kilometer journey, they arrived around noon and were split up among three different stations. Two students assisted community health workers as they weighed all the children under five. Two other were put to work recording data at the health post. After the clinic ended, students conducted interviews with the CHWs on their health work and farming practices in order to further their research.
Early tomorrow morning a few members of the greenhouse team will aid our carpenter, Kelvin, in finishing up construction then hurry back to head off to Livingstone with the rest of the team. We’re all eager to have a break and to see the beautiful Victoria Falls.
Going In All Directions!
“Why do you call it a greenhouse if it is white?”
We started off today with a nice long and relaxing breakfast. Afterwards, we began preparing for the upcoming studies and prepping for greenhouse construction. The local bishop graciously called a meeting with influential community leaders from the church, school, and hospital that Khanjan and three others from the greenhouse team attended. With only three hours notice, over 20 locals made it to the Wesleyan Presbyterian Church to meet and discuss what a greenhouse in Zimba would look like, as well as consider a variety of business plans and potential locations. The first question our team fielded was, “Why do you call it a greenhouse if it is white?” Once they had a better idea of what a greenhouse was and what it could offer the community, the group seemed interested. Together, our team and the community decided to build the greenhouse near the church, which will be responsible for hiring someone to run operations of the greenhouse. We are encouraging the church to create an incentive program for this person, such as offering a percentage of the crops yielded to motivate the them to do a good job. Tomorrow, we will begin construction at the church and start conducting interviews with farmers from surrounding areas.
P.S. Even though the power was out for the majority of the day, our future is looking bright!
Team 2 Arrives!
Yesterday, our nine remaining HESE members trickled into the Lusaka airport one at a time to start the second round of HESE in Zambia. By the time everyone arrived, we had enough time to grab dinner in town and rest up for a long day of travel. Today, the greenhouse team headed to Choma to check out the first completed greenhouse, taking photos for reference and quality control purposes. We picked up some groceries and other supplies and then piled into the car with our driver, Marvin to head to Zimba. The three other students had ridden directly to Zimba on the bus (with everyone’s luggage in tow), where we all met up later at a mission house. As we got situated here, we discussed our future plans both in Zimba and at the other sites as well. Tomorrow we’ll be firming up our research plans and considering alternate business models for the two pilot greenhouses that have yet to be constructed. Everyone is beat from the long day on the road and excited to really get started!
Jembo Jamboree
Greenhouse #2 went up in Siachitema earlier this week. The community welcomed us with Zambian hospitality: nshima and cibwantu – a traditional maize and sugar drink – for lunch, and a great deal of assistance digging holes and setting up the greenhouse’s foundation. We are excited to get the greenhouse up and running and to start getting fresh produce to patients at the local clinic. We will be back next week to help start greenhouse operations.
The greenhouse team finished our third greenhouse at a maternal health clinic in Jembo today. We spent a few days off the grid, working hard to build the last greenhouse in this idyllic community. We were incredibly thankful that our carpenters were willing to make the trip with us; we couldn’t have done it without them. We enjoyed getting to know them better and spent our evenings cooking together in the guest house.
We also engaged with the local communities: Aya completed several successful interviews and garden tours with local farmers in both Siachitema and Jembo. We will use this information to help improve our greenhouse user experience in the future.
One down, four to go!
Today the greenhouse team finished construction of the first greenhouse in Zambia! A windy morning made it tricky to attach the plastic glazing to the structure, but the team can’t be stopped. With the help of Calvin, the carpenter, and his apprentice, we did it!
Women who may be managing the greenhouse stopped by to check out our work. We spoke with them to educate the women on the benefits of greenhouse farming through a visual PowerPoint. The group of women couldn’t wait to start their work, which was great news! Megan, Nikki, Aya, and Staci tried to hash out the business model with the women to determine who would manage growing and how the crop yield profit would be divided. There was definitely some confusion and items to be reconciled, so the business model still needs to be finalized. The finalized model will guarantee sustainability and community benefit.
The remainder of the night consisted of planning and organizing for the second greenhouse to be built. While members gathered and loaded supplies, Brett hammered away to cut new washers for the following greenhouses. This turned out to be quite the spectacle because of the noise, so it was collectively decided to buy more washers at the market. We are excited to work even harder to complete the next construction job in only two days time!
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