Agriculture employs nearly seventy percent of the workforce in Uganda, but many farmers lose up to forty percent of their harvest due to improper food storage practices. Uganda has a very tropical climate and crops oftentimes are lost to exposure at high humidity and temperature levels, since the harvest is currently stored in the residences of the farmers, which are small mud huts with grass roofs. Given the current storage situation, fire, mold and pest infestation, and theft appear to be the most significant concerns.
Executive Summary
Our task is to design a stakeholder approved communal crop storage facility. The ability to store the crops would allow the farmers the opportunity to sell their harvest at a low supply time in the market, yielding much higher profit margins. This new cycle of storing and increasing profit stimulates the local economy and allows for new community opportunities, such as children receiving formal education.
Our client is Global Livingston Institute, a non-profit organization based in Denver that focuses on East African development projects. Their motto is “Listen, Think, Act” and thus take community research and stakeholder engagement into consideration before moving forward. Given the country’s instability and trauma in previous years, Global Livingston has partnered with other local organizations to rebuild rural communities. These organizations both work together to ensure successful and sustainable models for development, and discovered the need for the crop storage facility.
The engineering challenge is to design a communal crop storage facility able to store two different grains with their respective optimal temperature and humidity levels, with limited access to modern technology and resources.
1. Introduction
The client the team worked for throughout the year is Global Livingston Institute (GLI). Global Livingston Institute is a non-profit organization that is focused on innovative approaches to international development. It was founded in 2009 with the motto of Listen, Think, Act. Global Livingston partners with multiple universities around the United States, and approached the Colorado School of Mines with this Senior Design proposal: work with the people of Uganda to create a crop storage facility that best fits their needs.
The team also worked alongside Children of Peace-Uganda (CPU), who presented the initial idea of designing a crop storage facility for the community. CPU is another non-profit organization whose main goal is to reintegrate former child soldiers into society. Between 1988 and 2004, the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) led by Joseph Kony in Uganda abducted approximately 30,000 children. These children were forced to participate in Kony’s work, committing extremely violent crimes causing lasting trauma. After a peace agreement was finalized in 2008, many former child soldiers were left without families or a means to make a living. CPU is currently working to educate these former child soldiers on agricultural practices so they are able to support themselves.
Agriculture is a major pillar of the Ugandan economy and it employs nearly seventy percent of the labor force. The problem at hand is that about forty percent of the harvest each year is lost due to poor storage conditions and environmental factors. Currently, farmers use their homes to store their livelihood, but they face the immense obstacles in trying to preserve their crops post-harvest. Because of the significant loss in crops and limited storage options and available transportation, farmers are often forced to sell their crops at a low rate when the market is saturated at harvest time. This causes a cycle of poverty, never allowing the farming community the opportunity of financial growth and economic development.
Our project not only aims to create a storage facility to better farmers' livelihoods, but to also create a lasting legacy allowing for child soldiers to reintegrate into society and continue their healing process through successful agriculture.
2. Project Review
The problem we are tasked with solving is crop losses due to inadequate storage methods for crops harvested in Uganda. Most people depend on agriculture to support their families. When the harvested crops are not dry enough and exposed to the environment, it is easy for insects to infect and destroy the crops, or for mold to grow. The crops cannot then be sold and revenue is lost. To better protect the crops after harvest, we are planning to build a communal storage facility for farmers to store their crops for months after harvest. The most efficient way to protect crops is to store them in an airtight environment. This will keep moisture and insects away from the crops. The crops will be weighed and recorded in an on-site office, so each farmer will earn their fair wage. This will be done in the front room of the facility that can be open to the outside environment and doors can be left open for loading or unloading. There will be a facility employee to aid in the weighing process, recording, and provide security. When this employee is not present, the facility will be locked and inaccessible.
The first steps of this project was to research how to store crops in Uganda and then brainstorm potential concepts for the various components of the facility. This included facility layout, storage methods, energy options, windows, doors, and structure materials. We used the first three months of the project to thoroughly explore various options and decide on what would be the best concepts moving forward.
At this stage in the design process, we had selected a three room concept that can be seen in the final layout in Figure 1 of Appendix A and considered a wooden storage bin to aerate the crops may be a feasible storage method. Given the initial requirement to store 200,000 kg of each crop, we were able to calculate the volume required for each bin. However, after our trip to Uganda, we learned that storage in bags is a better option and aeration of the crops while in storage is not needed.
We determined that solar power would be the most achievable option to provide energy to the facility. There are several solar energy options from the brand Sun King which can be found through the retailers Greenlight Planet and M-Kopa Solar, who both provide service to Uganda. These companies offer products that will provide power for our design which will make the operations easier and the ability for the storage facility to be used during low-light conditions.
When considering windows and doors, we researched affordable and accessible options to meet our design criteria, and decided on garage doors for the loading dock. We had planned a window design with long narrow windows near the top of the wall in the storage space so the overhang from the roof could protect the crops from direct sunlight. The front room is able to contain large windows to let in a lot of light to reduce electricity needs..
We initially thought both the walls and roof of the facility could be made of PBR panelling, but after consulting CPU’s engineer Samuel, we learned that these metal panels for walls may not be strong enough to withstand forces from flooding. A better design would be to make the walls out of locally manufactured clay bricks.
A major turning point in our project was the opportunity to travel to Kampala and Lira, Uganda in February; about 5 months into the work on the project. We were able to gain a clearer understanding of the context of the desired storage facility. We saw the need for a facility firsthand, and the organizations involved in making it possible. We learned about Ugandan culture and spoke to the farmers, who are the direct stakeholders in the project. This trip was an important element in connecting with Children of Peace Uganda (CPU) and understanding their visions for the project. The conversations we had with Global Livingston (GLI), the farmers, and CPU revealed the discrepancies in desired project outcome. CPU was planning for a single, large facility located in urban Lira on CPU owned land, while the farmers struggled with the idea of sending their livelihood so far away. The farming communities suggested creating smaller facilities that are more widespread on farmer-owned land. We found this to be unexpected and challenging to consider. CPU was sure that they could gain the farmers’ trust so the farmers would be willing to store their crops away from their homes. As a result, we decided that a single large facility made geographical and economical sense.
