Farm & Irrigation Mkutani, Tanzania

Project Description

Our project serves a primary school of about 650 students in the rural village of Mkutani, Tanzania. Currently, about ⅓ of the students live too far away from the school to go home for lunch, meaning that they are unable to eat during the school day. This impacts not only their health but also their academic performance, especially when trying to pass exams that will allow them to move on to secondary school. Our proposed solution, formed in collaboration with the school committee and headmaster, is a garden of around 0.3 acres that will serve as a supplementary food source for the students. Additionally, a small portion of the garden will be cultivated and hand-watered by the students, serving as a valuable educational tool. During our last trip to Mkutani, we learned that the students have already started cultivating some crops in the garden site and are excited to learn more and expand their garden. Our initial plan was to construct a shallow well at the nearby riverbank, but after encountering a layer of rock that could not be broken through, we will most likely be shifting towards a borehole as the water source for the irrigation system. Water will be pumped from the source using a solar pump and transported through an underground pipe to an elevated tank next to the garden site. The irrigation system will be gravity-fed, and the crops will be periodically irrigated as the tank fills with water. The headmaster and school committee are hopeful that community members can perform the majority of maintenance tasks required and that the whole community will benefit from learning more about irrigation techniques.