Problem Statement.Ghana's food production system relies heavily on sustenance farming. Farmers from Agbokpa, a Ghanaian village, source their water directly from a nearby lake using buckets. This method of irrigation requires extensive labor and multiple hours of work designated to purely the transportation of water.
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Overall GoalsWe want to increase the productivity of Ghanaian farmers, making efficient use of their time and energy and to find a way to increase crop production year round, despite the drought season.
One of our ideas is to make a modular water supply system that can convey water from nearby reservoirs to local gardens and small farms. |
Personal Team GoalsWe want to expand our horizons during this project. we hope to learn about solar and small scale pumps. We also aim to understand the needs of subsistence farmers in Ghana.
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Our ConstraintsLimited information on what is needed by the Ghanaian people (Design constraints)
Speed of communication between us and our contacts. Inability to actually be in Ghana and implement our project/ design our project in the intended space. |
Our Failures
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Final Conclusion We were able to successfully create an inexpensive and portable solar pumping system. The size of our system is adequate for irrigating small farming plots no larger than 1/64 acre at a time. Based on our tests, on a sunny day we can pump approximately 330 gallons (1.1 gpm * 60min/hr * 5 sun hrs/day) through an irrigation system that requires no more than 5 psi of pressure. This flow rate can supply .77 inches/day of water, more than twice what is required to grow Maize. We believe that this type of system can be implemented in Ghana to extend the growing season into the dry season of the year by providing a way to transport water from nearby reservoirs to crop land. Multiple systems of this size could be used in a network to convey water over longer distances, and keep the pumping pressure below 5 psi, or a larger scale system could be used with a bigger pump. The advantage of using multiple small systems is that there is a low risk of injury from electrocution when using a direct solar to pump hookup with no controller, and the simplicity of the system is maintained.
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Final OutlookThere are many directions that a new group could move forward on.
Testing our system over time with different crops would be one route to go. It would be very useful to know if the system is efficient and grows healthy crops. There's many components to the system: solar panel, pump, drip irrigation system, (possible) water reservoir tank, and a filter for the pump in lake. A new group could take on any of these tasks and redesign them or completely make new. |