For the first time in her life, shop owner Ma Aye (pictured) has her own supply of fresh vegetables throughout Myanmar’s dry season. During the summer months March to April, water is a precious resource in her village, which is 14 miles away from the nearest town. Until this year, growing vegetables would have been unthinkable.
Ma Aye has a hydroponic horticulture system set up outside her shop in Pyawt Village, in Mingyan Township, in Mandalay Region, growing green mustard, morning glory, water spinach and lettuce. “In the past, there were no fresh vegetables available in the dry season,” Ma Aye said. “By the time the vegetable seller arrived in the village on his moped, the vegetables were old and wilted. Now I can enjoy my own fresh vegetables, and they are much more nutritious.”
In Ma Aye’s village, LIFT is funding three partners. Terre des Hommes Italia (TdH) is an organisation developing water-conserving horticulture systems; UN-Habitat is improving access to drinking water by building wells; and the Leveraging Essential Nutrition Actions To Reduce Malnutrition (LEARN) Project delivers training on nutrition.
In central Myanmar's Dry Zone, many villages and townships struggle to access water over the hot summer months. Most families work in farming, relying on cash crops like sesame and peanut for their livelihoods. During the rainy and cool seasons, families are able to supplement their diets by growing hardy root vegetables and gourds at home, but during the dry season this becomes impossible. These months are especially difficult for landless families who must rely on mobile vegetable sellers.
Terre des Hommes Italia (TdH) works in Dry Zone villages to design and build hydroponic horticultures systems. These systems are soilless and need only a small amount of water to grow green leafy vegetables. TdH is currently working with communities to construct demonstration plots.
Ma Aye’s shop stands in the centre of Pyawt village, so the hydroponic horticulture system attracts a lot of attention. Other villagers say they are interested in the hydroponic system because they would like to grow their own vegetables, and improve their nutrition.
Soilless Hydroponic Horticulture System
Water drips into bottles of seedlings, filled with carbonised rice husks. Photo: Philippa Clark
The innovative hydropnic greenhouse designed by TdH uses little water to grow green, leafy vegetables. The hydroponic system is constructed with lines of water bottles attached end-to-end, resting on bamboo struts. The bottles have circular holes cut in the top for the seedlings to grow, and are filled with rice husks, carbonised through a simple process of slow burning. Water drips through the bottles, and is collected at the base for reuse. The whole apparatus is roofed with a plastic sheet to create a greenhouse effect.
In TdH’s project, villagers assist with the construction of the hydroponic system and invest their own resources to build it. Once created, they can choose which plants to cultivate. Like Ma Aye, many owners choose to grow nutritious leafy vegetables which they can add to their own diets. Leafy vegetables are a good source of iron, fibre, vitamins and folate.
Other owners grow specific herbs or vegetables to sell as a viable source of income. Maung Maung, a nearby farmer in Shwe Bon Thar village, turned his hydroponics greenhouse into a specialised mint production unit. While he still grows some morning glory for his own personal consumption, he has dedicated most of the unit to intensive mint production. His sales have grown from the occasional 2 to 3,000 MMK (USD 2.20) a month, to a regular monthly income around 15,000 MMK (USD 11.10) a month.
Water Supply
When TdH first consulted the villagers to gauge interest in hydroponic horticulture, the villagers realised that TdH was willing to provide an initial water supply. This generated high interest in the project as water is a valuable and limited resource in the area.
Before this year, the only supply of drinking water in Pyawt village was a shallow well. Villagers could rely on the water supply in the rainy and cool seasons, but it dried up in the hot season. Once the well ran dry, villagers would queue up in the morning for hours at the three houses with rainwater tanks. Sometimes the queue began forming at 11pm the night before.
Funded by LIFT, in early 2017 UN-Habitat constructed a new deep well in the village. UN-Habitat also built a system of pipes to direct the water directly from the well to villagers’ residences. With this new reliable water supply, villagers are more eager to try out the hydroponic system.
“Many people who visit my shop ask me how this system works to grow vegetables,” said Ma Aye. “They ask me about the drip water supply and are interested in my experiences.”
Nutrition Training
Some of Ma Aye’s customers said they tried to eat a diverse range of fruit and vegetables to meet their nutrition needs. They are interested in owning a hydroponic greenhouse, like Ma Aye, as it would ensure a reliable source of fresh and pesticide-free vegetables.
One woman explained that eating a diversity of vegetables was particularly important for pregnant women and developing children. “Eating well helps children grow resistance to diseases, improves their growth rate, and even helps their brain development,” she said.
Regular customers in Ma Aye’s shop discuss LIFT’s projects. Photo: Philippa Clark
These are some of the messages delivered to communities in nutritional training organised by TdH and LEARN. Training is essential to improving the health and wellbeing of LIFT’s beneficiaries. Empowered with knowledge, beneficiaries gain the capacity to select the types of crops they want to plant, when they will plant them, and which foods they will buy.
Previously, when villagers bought vegetables from town sellers, they had no way of knowing which vegetables had the best nutritional benefits. Now they make sure to eat a diverse range of fruit and vegetables to meet their nutrition needs, and they are more confident in cooking healthy meals for their families.
Although there are currently only three TdH demonstration plots in Pyawt, there is high interest for more in the village. TdH will hold trainings for constructing the hydroponic horticulture system over the coming months, so that interested villagers will be able to replicate the plot. To help fund these new plots, TdH has facilitated the creation of producers groups at the village level. These small microfinance groups allow households to take out loans to buy equipment for the plots, such as piping and plastic bottles.
Ma Aye’s shop has been standing in Pyawt village for 20 years, and is a hub for locals. Photo: Philippa Clark
Ma Aye’s customers hope one day to have their own plots too. “We love having visitors to our village,” said a woman holding a baby. “We celebrate many festivals and religious ceremonies. With our own vegetable plots, it would be much easier to prepare religious offerings and provide nutritious meals for guests.”
