Technologies are there to help people work efficiently and effectively in any sector of development. In irrigation development, so many technologies have been developed to assist in irrigation farming. However, the drawback has been that these technologies have kept on demanding man power when it comes to operating the technology and frequent attention. Farmers in rural communities do face the hustles and hurdles of operating these kinds of irrigation technologies. The time and energy spent on operating these technologies could be of use in quality establishment of an irrigation system. Africa Windmill Project is in Malawi to take care of problems faced by farmers interested to embark on irrigation farming. The organization is developing irrigation technologies that could be of profound help to medium to small scale irrigation farmers. One of the irrigation technologies that can perform wonders for irrigation farmers is the wind water pump.
check out the video: Amazing Windmill
The picture you see above is a wind powered water pump developed by Africa Windmill Project in Malawi and placed at the our irrigation demonstration plot. The water pump is made out of bamboos (60%), blue gum pole, few steel (at pivotal point, nails and wire,), reused materials (5l and 25 liter containers and glass bottles) and plastic pipes and polyethylene sacks. The pump auto-operates under the influence of winds. As the winds blow, all four panels swirl towards one direction, forcing the rope with washers to rotate also. As the rope is rotating, washers tied to the rope at intervals pump water inside the pump carrying it through to the outlet pipe. In the AWP irrigation demonstration plot, the outlet pipe exit water into the irrigation reservoir tank. The pump is highly effective. It pumps water, every time the wind blows at the four panels. The more the wind blows, the faster the water resource is drained. In other words, the flow rate of the pump is equaled to recharge rate of the well. The wind powered water pump is designed to pump water into the reservoir. This is the technology that if properly improved on will help in irrigation development and assist in reducing the effect of food insecurity and financial insufficiency in rural households.
