Cushioning Climate Change with Farm Water Catchments  REMIX 

The Plan:

The plan is to provide a supplement for the unpredictable Rainfall in Africa caused by global warming.

Clarity:

African Farmers suffer from substantial variations in rainfall throughout the seasons. Irrigation of crops, to provide a supplemental and predictable amount of moisture to crops, would increase farm production and create a higher yield.

Proposed Solutions:

Use Local animal power to construct reservoirs. The purpose for local labor is that the money used to build the reservoirs would be circulated locally, instead of fed to an outside source. Create a reduction of surplus stocking and wiliness to sell crops for profit. Also, part of the solution is to avoiding costly sprinklers and pumps by utilizing gravity channel systems, or low-pressure drip irrigation.

The Numbers:

The proposed size for the reservoir is 4,800 cubic meters of water. This would provide 10 weeks of water on 5 acres (2 hectares) of land.
A total of about 3,200 cubic meters of soil would be moved.
An increase in crop yield from 900 kilograms to 2,500 kg per ha

The Test Site:

The test site is in Northern Uganda, which has two rainy seasons each year. Most likely this test site would be located in the Karamoja region, which has the driest climate in Uganda.

Additional Background Information About The Test Site:

Uganda is a landlocked country in East Africa. Half of the population lives below the international poverty line of $1.25 a day. The official languages are English and Swahili, however Luganda and other Bantu languages are spoken (over 40 different languages). However, In the Northern region the language of Swahili is associated with military power. Agriculture is the dominate fuel for the Ugandan economy. It provides over 80 percent of the workforce with employment, and accounts for 50 percent of the total output. Northern Uganda is home to the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA). The LRA is a somewhat religious outfit that terrorizes the border regions of Northern Uganda by targeting its civilians.

Appropriate Crops for Test Site:

The crop plants for Arid regions are very resilient and will produce in spite of arid conditions, however, many of the seeds need to be germinated in conditions of normal water availability in order to survive. Choosing the right crop for conditions can involve some experimentation that can take years to develop. More information about crops suited to arid regions can be found here.

Problems:

There are some problems that are associated with a reservoir built to this scale. One of which, is insect infestation. The standing water could provide a breeding ground for malarial insects which ultimately harm the well being of the population. We also have to consider such things such as erosion of the soil and soil salinity. In arid regions the soil lacks in organic material, potentially causing greater erosion. The conditions almost have to be perfect in order for the farms to have access to the water in the reservoir without the use of pumps or sprinklers. Gravity is our best friend if we want to feed the farms water for irrigation from the reservoir; however, we need a specific slope and conditions in order to use gravity in our favor. Another problem addresses with the scale of the reservoir, is the political environment of Northern Uganda. How do we protect the water reservoir from guerilla forces?

Alternative Solutions, Additional Research:

Stemming from research about various parts of the world there are several macrocatchment and microcatchment systems that have been proven effective. Some of which we have illustrated.

Macrocatchment runoff farming (1,000 meters squared-200ha) is referred to by some authors as "runoff farming water harvesting from long slopes."

Microcatchment systems run on a smaller scale and collect rainwater surface runoff from a small catchment area and store the runoff in a root zone. More information on runoff farming techniques can be found here.

Useful Farming Techniques:

There are some useful farming techniques that can also be implanted in this strategy. For example: tilling increases water absorption by creating a rough and cloddy surface that prevents flow of water down slope, to prevent erosion croplands must be as level as possible, all tillage must run perpendicular to the slope of the land. These are just a few examples of a myriad of useful farming practices for arid climates. Several more can be found in our attachment on Dry land Farming. More information about dry land farming can be found here.

Conclusion:

It is our conclusion that we should implement components into our strategy including: Microcatchment systems that are suitable for individual farms, informative useful farming techniques that are proven for arid areas, and proper crops for the climate, to cushion climate change.

Roosenberg,

We would like to thank you for the opportunity for us to learn and expand upon your idea for our class project. It has been a very informative and eye opening experience for us. Thank you for helping us further our education, and explore and research a region, and the livelihoods and practices of Africa that we were formerly unaware of.

Thank You,

University of Kansas Industrial Design Team,

Todd, Peter, and Ashley