General Technical Documents

Mobile Aquaponics System

This system was designed by Daniel Brännström. You can view a video of this system here: http://edn.link/aquavideo

The goal of this project is to place the fish farm in a 20 foot cargo container and connecting to the plant beds in a greenhouse or outdoor. In a standard 20 foot (about 6 m long) container, 2 tanks with fish will be placed which have a total volume of 6 m3 of water. It is possible to produce about 400 kg of fish in 8-10 month. Connecting to the container a small greenhouse and/or outdoors, where tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce and other locally desirable vegetables will be grown in plant beds filled with gravel. Between 2500-3500 kg vegetables can be grown in the same time.

Maresha minimal tillage plow and seeder

ECHO East Africa staff have worked with Neil Rowe-Miller, Agriculture and Livelihoods Technical Advisor at Tearfund, and the local community around Arusha, Tanzania, to help adapt the Ethiopian Maresha plow for smallholder conservation agriculture applications. The attached drawings are from May, 2022. The design team may make modifications over time and so this version is not necessarily final. 

The drawings include:

• Isometric view
• Frame dimensions and drawings
• For dimensions and drawings
• Seed meter stand dimensions and drawings from two angles
• Container for keeping seed
• Information about brackets, tensioner, rim, and adjuster
• Hopper plank dimensions and drawings

For additional information or questions, please contact Harold Msayna at hmsanya@echocommunity.org

Edible Plants of Teso, Uganda

This resource of wild edible plants in Uganda was contributed by Sara Sytsma. She shared: 

 I ask people in the villages to teach me about different plants they eat. I started on a "book" with the information I could collect so far. Some Ugandan agricultural development staff have helped me too.

If you have additions to the book, please let us know by sharing them on the wild foods conversation.

For each plant category, plants are listed in alphabetical order by Ateso name. Other names are also given. Then there is a description of its growth habit, an explanation of its uses, and instructions for preparing for consumption. 

Black Soldier Fly Production - Farmers Guide

Instruction manual for Kenyan smallholder farmers to start with the production of Black Soldier Fly Larvae as substitute for omena and soy in animal feed.

Riparian Reforestation in Nicaragua

Robert Walle -     2003 -   DSEA Zamorano Nicaragua

Slide 1 Community meeting to explain the road reparation and the protection of the infiltration gallery downstream from sedimentation from eroding streambank. Local concerns were expressed to also fix the existing wells used by the community, in exchange for community work on the restoration effort. (Inset upper right) Original state showing hurricane damage. Note power pole. (Inset upper left) Photo showing anchor, bulldozer used to shape eroded streambank, ox carts and community involvement.

Slide 2 Community meeting. Agreement reached for three improved wells (Bomba de mecate or Rope pump) (Upper insets) new wells constructed, with well committees in exchange for community involvement (15 days/20 persons) exceeded. (Lower inset) original community well

Slide 3 Repeat of community initial work showing again constructed anchor, bulldozer, and ox-carts. Taking advantage of local materials and community labor.

Slide 4 Original hurricane damage to the road (inset) representation of re-shaping bank. Streambank re-shaped with large erosion proof boulders for spurs placed.

Slide 5. Live stakes, fascine bundles planted in skeletal soils. Stones below the waterline, and as rip-rap with trees (Salix humboltidiana) planted between. Spurs installed against the current. Note position of power pole. (Inset) Diagram from stream corridor restoration handbook, NRCS

Slide 6 Watering of bioengineering works by community members to ensure establishment. Necessary skeletal soils with reduced water-holding capacity. (Inset) Diagram from stream corridor restoration handbook, NRCS

Slide 7 Progress after two months. Some trees are actively growing, sprouting of fascines. Paint on exposed ends is to reduce transpiration.

Slide 8 18- month progress. Note the position of the power pole position on the highway.

Design and Fabrication of Run off River (ROR) Pump

Pandey, Bishal,  Dhakal, Prabin, Bhatta, Nabin, Giri, Bibek, Rimal, Samita, Kayastha, Atmaram, 2016/08/01, 

This project is aimed to fabricate the water pumping machine. Due to the topographical variation in Nepal’s Himalayan regions, people are facing problems of water in both drinking and irrigation supply though there are many rivers in Nepal. This has caused difficulty in many irrigation projects and drinking water supply projects.

We started our project with the collection of the data such as flow rate, head and velocity of a river by visiting some rivers like Roshi Khola and Punyamata River located in Panauti. We also visited reservoir type Khopasi Hydropower Project to know more about hydro driven machineries. Then we completed the flow rate analysis which is also the part of study of cross flow turbine. The velocity of Roshi Khola is found to be 1.2 m/s. We also studied about cross flow turbines and the profile of these turbines. For maximum efficiency the profile must be so adjusted that striking water should make an inlet angle of 30° and the discharging water makes 90° angle.

Furthermore, we have completed the fabrication of our project and the site testing will be done soon to analyze the efficiency of the device in Roshi Khola.
 

Design, fabrication and testing of river water pump for rural communities

Khanal, Paras, Acharya, Shyamhari, Shrestha, Milan, Chitrakar, Sailesh, Neopane, Hari, 2021/08/01

This paper presents development of river water pump that can operate without fuel and electricity mostly applicable in rural communities that are close to a water stream. The river water pump consists of a propeller, drum, hose, rotary coupling and helical coil. The pump is driven by a propeller which is rotated by moving water. Because these pumps do not require any external energy or fuel, the operating cost for irrigation, as well as for other household purposes can be minimized. In this study, two different shaped pumps were fabricated and tested. Although the general mathematical relations for the design of the pump was kept constant for the two pumps, the variation of the shape of the drum was incorporated for comparing the performances. The main purpose of this study was to compare performance of the cylindrical shaped and conical shaped pump. It was found from this study that by making a conical shape of the drum, the total discharge could be maximized. However, the design of the supporting structure to withhold the pump on the river needs to be modified to balance the unsymmetrical distribution of the mass caused due to the conical shape. Compared to the conventional coil pump, this study also uses double layer of coil to enhance the overall performance of the pump. Thus, this study is expected to support in the product development within this family of the pump.

Design, fabrication and testing of river water pump for rural communities
Kathmandu University Journal of Science Engineering and Technology
 

ECHO Article Submission Example

UHDP Insect Study

INTEGRATIVE CULTURAL RESEARCH PROJECT, 2009-2010, Marcia Croft

This project focused on studying insect diversity, specifically related to an agricultural context, in Northern Thailand. This study was conducted at an agricultural research center focusing on helping local ethnic minorities establish sustainable agriculture, so we studied insects both at the center and in the villages. We interviewed staff and villagers about pest problems and observed and collected data on insect diversity in a number of ways. After collecting data for three weeks on a number of vulnerable crop species, we examined trends in the factors affect insect populations in these vegetable gardens.

The goal of this project was to identify key pest and beneficial species, learn about the insect biodiversity at UHDP, and come up with solutions based on Integrated Pest Management principles for application in the villages. We learned about how people understand and deal with pests in this context and what kinds of pests they regularly face. We learned about the vulnerable crop species and the factors affecting pest predation and made recommendations based on our findings.