At Agricultural Innovations, we are trying to find ways to leverage communities like Appropedia to do real time development and deployment of appropriate technologies for development projects in the Third World. Our focus is Bolivia, South America, a fantastic place but the poorest country on the continent. We believe that through decentralized, network-based technology development we can provide better services and products more cheaply and efficiently than would be possible through a traditional top-down approach. Help us make this dream a reality.
The Project
Our project has multiple components, but the central thrust has three primary objectives:
- To develop a model for community-based technology centers, with a focus on tech transfer using appropriate technologies that can be prototyped, validated, and commercialized for future business and community development
- To focus on the rehabilitation of degraded and eroded lands, with a special focus on soil and water resource management
- To develop a North-South axis of interaction, where Northern professionals can provide technical and financial resources to Southern tinkers and innovators
Technological Possibilities
We do not want to limit potential collaborators to a specific area of intervention. The needs are so vast, and the model open enough, that good ideas will find traction and move forward. Here are some areas of interest that we have worked on in the past:
- Hydraulic ram pumps
- Ferrocement Tanks
- Beekeeping Technologies (Improved Hive and Implement Development)
- CINVA Ram Block Press
- Aquaculture
- Microlivestock
- Animal traction implements
- Play Pump
- Windmills
- Water Catchments
- Rainwater Harvesting
- Grey water systems
- Biogas
- Mushroom Production
- Geographic Information Systems and CAD for permaculture design
This list is far from exhaustive. If you feel you have an idea that could have an impact, let us know. This call for collaborators is preliminary. We WILL build and document a model for eroded land rehabilitation, and we will document it online. Please see http://web.archive.org/web/20080616044058/http://agroinnovations.com:80/component/option,com_zoom/Itemid,131/catid,8/lang,en/ for some examples of how CAD and GIS can integrate appropriate technology into a geospatial land rehabilitation scheme. If you are interested, get in touch with me. frank [at] agroinnovations dot com. The revolution is now.