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Hello ,
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Investing in a professional greenhouse tunnel, was a far cry from small-scale farmer's minds. The investment is simply too high. A typical Zambian small-scale farmer would have to save money for more than 20 years.
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Design
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Jacana has found a SMART solution for this. Together with a professional tunnel builder, Haygrove, Jacana designed and tested a tunnel that can be purchased with the average income of just one small-scale farmer's harvest season.
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The tunnel uses the same durable and high-quality plastic sheet (150mil UV-resistant), mesh and rope as its bigger brother. But it saves more than a factor 20 on the steel parts. The most compact version is 5m wide, 3m high (to dissipate heat), starts at 9m in length and can be easily extended.
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Advantages of using a tunnel.
- The plants suffer less from pests and diseases.
- The farmer therefore need fewer chemicals.
- The plants benefit from rapid growth and maximum yield.
- Some plants, such as tomatoes, do not grow well in the rainy season. In contrast, they grow excellently in a tunnel when the price is high.
- It can grow high-value vegetables, but also berries, soft fruit, herbs, trees and seedlings.
There are currently demo tunnels at the three Jacana locations. There we experience all the advantages of growing plants in a tunnel.
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But farmers are also starting to show interest in tunnels, for example those who grow trees. For growing trees, protection against rain and cold is very important and a tunnel is a godsend.
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Training tunnel constructers
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Recently, Jacana trained entrepreneurs in building these SMART (Simple Affordable Market based and Repairable Technologies) tunnels and guides them to expand their businesses.
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Video tutorial
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A video tutorial was made during that training. In it we explain step by step how you can build such an affordable tunnel.
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You can also get our free manual.
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More and steadier income...
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Now small-scale farmers can also experience the benefits of a tunnel.
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This not only provides the farmer with more and more stable income, which helps them to expand slowly but surely, it also increases the variation in nutrition in the community.
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Want your own tunnel?
If you are a Zambian farmer and are interested in your own tunnel, please let us know and we will put you in contact with the tunnel constructors. Just reply to this email.
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Thanks
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