I presented our Mondialogo project to a small group of students in an informal setting in Vancouver, Canada. The proposed idea is a low cost solution to preserve potatoes in rural areas of Nepal.

1. Food Preservation for Farming
Communities in Nepal:!
A Low Cost Engineering Solution
Shris&
N.
Pradhan
shris&.pr@gmail.com
Vancouver,
Canada
Sep
2012

2. Outline
• Nepal
Agricultural
Background
• Needs
Assessment
in
Various
Villages
• Our
Interna8onal
Team
• Technology
for
Food
Preserva8on
• Mondialogo
Engineering
Award
2009

3. Nepal
Agricultural
Background
• Popula8on:
Approx.
40
million,
Area:
147,181
sq.
km
• Principal
economic
ac8vity:
Agriculture
• Employs
80%
of
popula8on
• Provides
37%
Gross
Domes8c
Product
(GDP)

4. Needs
Assessment:
Bhaktapur
• Sudal
village
in
Bhaktapur:
Village
about
20
km
to
the
East
of
Kathmandu
• Hilly
terrain
and
home
to
990
households
• 94%
popula8on
live
on
agriculture
• Land
is
cul8vable
for
8
months
&
surplus
of
food
especially
maize
and
potatoes
• Land
barren
for
rest
of
the
year
&
shortage
of
food
SUDAL
BHAKTAPU
R
KATHMANDU

5. Needs
Assessment
Priority
Problem:
Food
Scarcity
• Food
scarcity
affec8ng
the
well-­‐being
and
economy
of
the
community
• Potatoes
as
the
main
staple
food
in
the
area
• A
storage
solu8on
enabling
people
to
store
and
preserve
surplus
potatoes
Design
Challenges:
• Avoiding
microbe
growth
and
exposure
to
light
• Maintaining
low
temperature
and
high
rela8ve
humidity
• Keeping
low
construc8on
and
opera8ng
cost

6. Our
Interna&onal
Team
Nepal
Team
Tribhuvan
University,
Ins8tute
of
Engineering,
Pulchowk
Campus,
Nepal
• Needs
assessment
• Prototype
developement
• Prac8cal
implementa8on
of
the
system
Japan-­‐Norway
Team
Tokyo
Ins8tute
of
Technology,
Japan
University
of
Oslo,
Norway
• Prototype
development
• Seek
for
project
funding
sources
• Interna8onal
connec8ons

7. Potato
Preserva&on
Technology
System
Parts
• UV
irradia8on
module
• Food
storage
structure
• Evapora8ve
cooling
module
• Temperature
and
humidity
control
system
Key
Features
• Stores
potatoes
for
as
long
as
6
months
• Less
than
10%
weight
loss
• The
materials
and
equipment
are
mostly
available
locally
• Lible
resources
for
maintenance
• Encourage
local
entrepreneurship

8. Storage
Unit
• Place
the
storage
bin
underground
for
insula8on
• Use
locally
available
materials
for
wall
panels
(e.g.
rice
straw)
• Mul8ple
chambers
for
ease
of
handling
and
sharing
among
beneficiaries
• Cooling
air
distribu8on
important
to
avoid
hot
spots
and
CO2
accumula8on
Perforated
pipes
Air
from
fan

9. Cooling
Control
System
• Uses
microcontroller
system
• Equip
with
temperature
(Ta)
and
rela8ve
humidity
(RH)
sensor
to
measure
the
condi8ons
inside
storage
bin
• Control
fan
according
to
the
temperature
and
RH
inside
the
bin
1. Microcontroller
2. Sensor
(RH
and
Temp)
3. LCD
display
4. Regulated
LED
2
1
3
4

10. Mondialogo
Engineering
Project
United
Na&ons
Millennium
Development
Goals
• Food
security
• Poverty
reduc8on
• Environmental
protec8on
Mondialogo
Engineering
Gold
Award
Winner
2008/09
!!
• Selected
among
932
submibed
project
ideas
from
94
coun8es
• Awarded
with
€15,000
as
seed
funding
for
the
implementa8on
of
the
project
Me
and
Ben
Allan
presen8ng
at
Mondialogo
Symposium
2009,
Germany

11. Thank
You
!