Student Team Members
Samuel Tuck (Biomedical Engineering, College of Engineering); Sarah Baruch (Medical School); Samantha Cabala (School of Public Health).
Faculty Advisor
Dr. Andrew Jones (School of Public Health).
Partner Non-profit Organization
Bridging International Communities (bridge-communities.org)
BIC Project Director
Dr. Michelle Leach (CoE, ’13)
Project Summary
Haciendita Uno (HU) is a small rural community located in the municipality of Suchitoto, in the Department of Cuscatlán, El Salvador. The residents of HU are poor rural farmers who produce basic grains and agro-industrial crops such as corn, coffee and sugar cane. Other crops, such as vegetables, herbs and/or legumes, would result in better returns, but are not grown due to a shortage of land, a lack of irrigation, and continual increases in the cost of agrochemicals, as well as poor farm management which has resulted in soil nutrient imbalances. The resulting reality faced by small Salvadoran farmers is bleak – the majority remain well below the poverty level and suffer frequent food insecurity.
The situation for youths (aged 18-25) in rural El Salvador is even more dire. Youths are unlikely to own land lacking sufficient funds to purchase any. Our proposed pilot project is designed to give Salvadoran youths an alternative option to generate substantial income by managing a vegetable cooperative consisting of 10 producers utilizing drip irrigation on small plots. El Salvador receives significant rainfall during the summer. Collecting and storing rainwater for use during the dry season is entirely possible, but is not feasible due to the high cost of storage containers. Each youth will receive a Flexitank, an affordable water storage container, with a large tarp suspended above to collect rainwater and funnel it into the tank. The tanks will be allowed to fill during the rainy season (May-November). Once the dry season begins, 120 tomato plants will be added and the youths will be trained to irrigate and care for the plants, and later to market the fruit.
The ten youths who participate in this project will gain knowledge and marketable skills in sustainable agriculture techniques. Additionally, the youths will be able provide for themselves and family with their newly acquired knowledge, skills, and resources.
The knowledge generated from this project will be compiled into an article and submitted to a journal, such as the Michigan Journal of Sustainability. A How-to manual and diagram will be produced in Spanish and English and made freely available. If successful, we plan to use the date generated by this project as preliminary data to apply for larger grants to further investigate the use of Flexitanks in the developing world.