VERTICAL FARMING PROJECT
April 4, 2018
Wow!!! Who says it’s not enticing to be innovative? The Ashesi D: lab has done it again with the vertical farming project. Interning with Start-Up traction in 2017 as a freshman, Nutifafa Amedior, who is currently a second year CS major in Ashesi came across the idea of vertical farming through Carry Go Farms. Seeing them have bumper harvests with a relatively smaller piece of land, Nutifafa got intrigued at the creativity behind it. With the help of the design lab and the farm modelling project, a 5 by 5-meter piece of land was gotten to practicalize this long-term passion Nutifafa had inside of him.
Currently, a team of six are working hard with 500 bottles to grow a 5 by 5-meter land of vegetables with plans of extending it for the benefit of Ghana’s agriculture. One would ask, what at all is the logic behind the vertical farming project? Well, as the name suggests, these vegetables are planted on top of one another with the help of plastic bottles and ropes to serve as support. Painted with black oil paint and coated with white paint as well to retain heat from sunlight. Trying hard to be health conscious, organic fertilizer will be used in this project. Cow dung and coconut husks will serve as a growth medium for the vegetables.
As a control experiment, 200 out of these 500 bottles will be used without painting them. This is to know whether these vegetables can grow without painting the bottles. Hopefully, if it does, then hurray!!!! The cost will be reduced.
The beauty of vertical farming is that it uses a relatively smaller piece of land. However it leads to higher yield, prevents fungal infestation, and is cost-effective.
Having some of the team members share their experiences, they admitted that it is quite demanding especially having to wake up as early as 6 am after a tiring school week, combining academics with it, and having to use opportunity cost to weigh when you have farm work and your assignments to contend with. However, the team lead, Nutifafa, stated, “When you commit yourself to something, you have to realize that if you do not do it, no one else will.” He said that he had a very good interest in agriculture because he believes that food is an essential commodity. Another statement he made, which is paraphrased was that vertical farming is a way of producing much more food compared to the normal farming strategies. If this is expanded, Ghana could export food to other countries which would be an immense boost to our economy.
After interacting with the vertical farming team and getting myself dirty, I said to myself, if we have such brains in Ghana, then we have nothing to worry about. We can always find a way to invent. It takes brains to make this happen. Vertical farming is a strategic use of brains to make farming more attractive and lucrative.
PERFORATING BOTTLES THAT WOULD BE USED IN THE FARM PROJECT
Story By Najahat Antiku
HYDROPONICS: AFRICAN SOLUTION TO INCREASING FOOD PRODUCTION
March 22, 2018
It has been a major concern for several Africans that the continent that was once known as the food basket of the world is turning into a dependency log.
The global issue in the efficiency of our farmers in producing enough food for the economy has placed the economy in danger. This level of inefficiency threatens the security of Africa’s food supply as the population keeps growing. The Hydroponics team at Ashesi University has been worried about the future of Africa and has tried to innovate better agricultural methods.
The Hydroponics team lead, Stephan Ofosuhene believes that Africa has so much fertile land that should be effectively put to use. He believes that not all arable land should be used for food crops but farmers should think of ways of preserving vegetation in consideration to the state of the climate. He leaves us with no worry by introducing an agricultural rack that can be used to grow food without the use of soil.
The idea of growing crops without soil is not a familiar method in Ghana and parts of Africa but it has the potential to drastically increase the output of Ghana’s agricultural sector. This assertion is backed by evidence in literature as well as the success of similar installations in other parts of the world.
The Hydroponics team is currently testing on the combination of nutrients that would be used in the cultivation of different types of crops and the environments that are suitable for each crop. For this purpose, the team will be collecting data using an IoT installation and will later apply statistical techniques and machine learning to find the optimum nutrient needs of different plants
Currently, the progress of the Hydroponics project has caused an air of excitement in the Ashesi community as the kind of application the team is integrating to this new development is embodied in Ashesi’s learning goals. Ashesi has done nothing but to encourage all their students to develop solutions to global problems.
ASHESI D:LAB HYDROPONICS FARMING
March 12, 2018
Ever wondered why the Netherland, though bereft of almost every resource long thought to be necessary for large-scale agriculture, still stands as the globe’s number two exporter of food as measured by value? Hydroponics may not account for all of it, but certainly one of them!
What is Hydroponics and Why does it deserve any attention?
In case you are not acquainted with the technology, Hydroponics is simply a method of growing crops using nutrient solutions instead of growing the crops in soil. This technique makes it possible to provide crops with the best amount of nutrients to optimize crop growth and yield.
The Hydroponic Farming Technique boasts of faster crop growth and is environmentally friendly because it uses less water than conventional agriculture. The technique, if adopted in Ghana, will be crucial to sustaining the vegetation as hydroponic farming eliminates the need to cut down trees and destruction natural habitats.
This semester the Ashesi D:Lab Hydroponics team, under the Farm Modeling Project, is working to bring this wonder to Ashesi. The team is currently working to employ and test the hydroponic technology under our harsh weather conditions. The project will capture learnings and experiences that will start and contribute to the conversations on sustainable farming method and hydroponic farming in Ghana and beyond.
Work has already started on the structure, IoT, and will continue after the mid semester break. We welcome interest, suggestions and support in any form from the community! Contact Stephan Ofosuhene atstephan.ofosuhene@ashesi.edu.gh
Ashesi D:Lab Hydroponic Team
TUUNGANE COSMOPOLITAN GARDEN
February 14, 2018
The Tuungane Cosmopolitan Garden is a response by two Ashesi students, Purity Musau and Margaret Odero, to the challenge set by the Office of Diversity and International Programs (O.D.I.P), asking for ideas to foster unity and promote diversity. This challenge is part of the O.D.I.P’s initiative to engage with students more to promote diversity. Tuungane entered the competition with their idea of a cosmopolitan farm, which won the overall prize.
The Tuungane Cosmopolitan Garden is an initiative which seeks to promote diversity by using farming. The whole purpose is to engage students from different parts of Africa to grow crops native to their homelands on the Ashesi Farm Modelling farm, and in the process teaching the entire Ashesi community a little bit more about life in their respective countries. The project is being ran in collaboration with the Ashesi D:Lab, under the Farm Modelling Project.
Monday, the 12th of February 2018, marked the official launch of the Tuungane Cosmopolitan Garden project. The day was used by the different project members to educate the Ashesi community about Tuungane. Stickers were also shared to raise awareness about the project. A tour of the farm was given to some interested members of the Ashesi community, where they were introduced to some of the plants which have already been planted like Spinach and okro. The tour was also used as an opportunity to recruit volunteers to be helping on the farm. Find pictures of the launch here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/ashesidlab/albums/72157687807348300
The Tuungane Cosmopolitan Garden is an exciting project, stay tuned for more updates of the journey as they go along.
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