Hydroponics Box Prototype

Project Title

Hydroponics Box Prototype

Location

Mosteiros, Fogo
Republic of Cape Verde

Background

Cape Verde faces a potential food security crisis. Importing food from foreign countries is inefficient, food prices are rising globally, and domestic production is weak and technologically undeveloped.

Postharvest Waste

Poor postharvest management in the transition from field to market can waste as much as 50% of the food produced in developed countries, through spoilage and mechanical damage. Economic and technological disadvantages in Cape Verde make this waste factor significantly worse. At least half of the food that people in Cape Verde could be consuming is wasted during postharvest.

Geographic Disadvantages

As food is imported from foreign countries, huge quantities are wasted. Cape Verde is already a logistically challenging country for marine imports. Incoming food shipments can sit in the port for days, even weeks, before clearing customs. Entire shipments frequently spoil completely.

Weak Technology and Infrastructure

Even more food is wasted as it is distributed throughout the country. Underdeveloped inter island and inland transport infrastructure, and limited access to refrigeration technology, cause more produce to spoil.

Production is limited by lack of water.

The main challenge to agriculture production in Cape Verde is limited water. The annual rainfall in Cape Verde is just 6.9 cm. Farmers rely primarily on rainfall, and must wait until the rainy season to plant. Water is also costly to purchase and transport.

Objectives

Cheaper Food, Produced More Efficiently

The best strategy for dealing with rising food prices is to strengthen local production. Localizing production decreases the time and distance of food transportation. The objective is to achieve food security more efficiently, by simply avoiding the need for transport.

Overcome Classic Obstacles to Domestic Production

Hydroponics technology will enable the community to grow crops with decreased water usage, which can counteract Cape Verde’s natural, built-in challenges to local subsistence agriculture.

Goals

Harvest 30 heads of lettuce from one box in 55 days
Measure growth rate, budget, and volume of output to determine viability on a larger scale
Train one local family

Description

This simple hydroponics system is a 1 meter x 1 meter x 10 cm box, lined with plastic, and filled with a mixture of sand and fertilizer. It is positioned at an incline, so nutrient solution can drain out of the bottom edge. The solution can then be adjusted for pH and nutrient concentration, and reused. This illustrates the primary advantage of hydroponics over conventional subsistence agriculture: massively reduced water usage.

The system can be constructed on a small budget, primarily from materials that are readily available.

Justification

This hydroponics system can provide more diverse food, in greater quantities, at a lower cost than imported produce.

The ability to grow and harvest a small garden with only a few buckets of water has obvious, transformative value to any agricultural producer in Cape Verde's stifling climate. It gives the community the ability to grow crops year-round instead of waiting months for the rainy season. It will also create the opportunity to diversify local production.

The system is currently in use in São Domingos, on the island of São Tiago. Some photos of the system are below.