SWFF Innovators
Bhungroo – Naireeta Services
India
Using handmade pipes 10 to 15 centimeters in diameter, Bhungroo filters, injects, and stores rainwater underground for usage in lean periods. In addition to providing food security during rainy periods and crop survival in lean periods, Bhungroo can also supplement household water needs.
Drought Prediction Tool – CUT, Free State
Mozambique, South Africa, Kenya
This drought early warning system integrates indigenous and scientific drought forecasting that uses a mobile application, a web portal, and SMS service to pool weather information through a network of sensors that monitor weather conditions for small-scale farmers.
Integrated Aquaculture and Crop Production – SkyFox Ltd
Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone
In Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone, SkyFox Ltd's innovation involves top-of-the-hill aquaculture ponds capable of producing two tons of catfish twice a year and nutrient-rich water for irrigating 25-acres at the base of the hill. SkyFox will lease ponds and irrigation land and provide extension services to resource-poor farmers.
Saline Vegetables – Lal Teer Seed Ltd
Bangladesh
Lal Teer Seed combines locally developed, saline-tolerant vegetable seeds with easily adoptable methods for cultivating in high saline areas of Southern Bangladesh, and includes micro-finance linkages, information and communications technology support, and extension advisory services.
SWFF GRADUATE
Ecorangers and Meat Naturally – Conservation South Africa
Botswana, Kenya, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa
Meat Naturally Pty uses ecological science, a government job creation program, and market interest in sustainable meat to implement communal grazing systems that result in improved water and food availability.
Irrigation Scheduling System – Institute for University Cooperation
Peru
An irrigation scheduling system that provides farmers with direct indications on when and how much to irrigate. Through a climate station, the system measures air temperature, humidity, wind speed and direction, intensity of solar radiation, and rains.
SWFF Alumni
Salt-Tolerant Potato – MetaMeta & SaltFarmTexel
Pakistan
A non-GMO, salt-tolerant potato that requires very little fresh water for cultivation. Scaling up access to this potato will contribute to better use of lands and waters that have high salinity and will reduce the pressure on freshwater resources.
SPONGE – IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute Ltd
Bhutan, Bangladesh, Belize, India, and Nepal
SPONGE is an innovative irrigation technology - a techno-biological system - that greatly improves water utilization and supply in Bhutan, Bangladesh, Belize, India, and Nepal. Using water from fog and dew, SPONGE increases water reliability in a region with abundant, but highly intermittent water availability.
The Buried Diffuser – Institute for University Cooperation
Tunisia
Patented underground irrigation technique for field and green house trees, shrubs, vegetables in fields and green houses that enhances efficiency of water resources, increases crop productivity, and makes rain-fed agriculture sustainable.
Weather System – Trans African Hydro-Meteorological Observatory (TAHMO)
Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda
TAHMO's weather stations measure meteorological and water resource variables (rainfall, radiation, temperature, humidity, wind speed/direction, soil moisture, etc) and send the data via GSM networks to a data server, providing accurate, localized, and timely weather information.
Where Our Innovators Operate
