Technology bringing positive changes

A farmer from Gabensis villageof Wampar local level government in Huon district, Morobe, is pleased that a solar water pump introduced by the National Agricultural Research Institute is bringing positive
changes to his family and community.
Sam Ifid has been raising chicken and is grateful that the solar water pump is providing water and light for his poultry business which raises about five batches of chicken, earning over K18,000 a year.
Ifid said the solar water pump provides sufficient water to irrigate his Pak Choi and 18 cloned cocoa farms.
“My wife walks almost half a kilometerto fetch water for their farms but this technology has greatly reduced this burden.
“We managed to sell the Pak Choi on six occasions and earned about K2,500 to pay for our children’s school fee,” Ifid said.
His family also uses water for other household needs. He plans on increasing the number of solar panels so he can fully harness solar energy for electrical stoves, electrical tools to build furniture or house and washing machine.
Ifid said such technology is very useful and can bring about positive changes in communities.
He said other farmers in the country should take up this technology which was very useful in irrigating farms using underground water sources.
Ifid has had a long working relationship with NA RI as a model farmer and hopes other farmers can adopt such technology in order to improve and sustain their farming practices.
He said such technologies could be sustained if spare parts were readily available and farmer training on how to set up the solar water pump was provided.
NA RI entered into a partnership with the Korean government in 2016, through the Korean Invention Promotion Association to pilot the solar power-driven water pump to support drought vulnerable communities.
The solar water pump is a modification of the manual rope and washer pump.
Since the El Nino induced drought in 2015, the introduction of this technology has received overwhelming support and generated interest by communities who were worst affected.
Farmers like Sam Ifid are now benefiting from the use of such technology through the project partnership between NA RI and the Korean government.
The technology was successfully evaluated in Gabensis and Intuap of Morobe and Hisiu in Central province in 2016.
Other electrical items such as mobile phones and lights can be charged using the solar energy derived from the solar panels.