By Fulvio Giberti | Project Manager
Dear Friend,
Greetings from Puntland, Somalia!
We are glad to share with you some updates on the progress made in the last quarter towards the shipment and installation of the Off-Grid Box in Puntland. Thanks to your support, we are getting closer to the fundraising goal to allow this project to take over!
In the meantime, we are continuing with the preparatory work on the ground to make sure that the project "Give Clean Water & Energy to 350 Somali Families" will be a success!
Signature of a multi-party agreement with the local community, the regional farmer association, and the local government on the management and ownership of the Off-Grid Box.
Following an extensive consultation process with our local stakeholders, CEFA has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the farming community in Bosaso District, the Puntland Ministry of Environment, Agriculture, and Climate Change, our partners SADAR and Off-Grid Box, and the regional farmer association of Puntland to set the respective rules, roles, and responsibility for the management, maintenance, and ownership of the Off-Grid Box. Both the local community and authorities have received great interest in the proposal of CEFA, and they are looking forward to the installation of the Box and the commencement of the activities on the ground!
Completion of the procurement process for the construction of the small-scale dates processing unit in El-Dahir pilot farm.
After the definition of the pilot farm's design and layout, CEFA has conducted an open and competitive procurement process to identify the local contractor in charge of the construction of the small-scale processing units for dates that will be powered by the Off-Grid Box in the El-Dahir pilot farm. The small-scale processing unit will significantly contribute towards the improvement of the post-harvesting process of dates in Puntland, working as aggregation and processing centers to increase the quality of the drying, cleaning, and packaging processes of dates, and, consequently, their shelf-life and market price. The procurement process has been completed, a local firm has been identified, and the construction works have just started.
Development of an innovative model of dates solar dryer in collaboration with the Polytechnic of Turin University for replication by the private sector in Puntland and adoption in the El-Dahir Pilot Farm.
In collaboration with the Italian Polytechnic of Turin University, CEFA has developed an innovative model of solar dryer to be used in the date palm value chain. The solar dryer has been called "Icaro" and, after an ad-hoc capacity building program is delivered to local manufacturers in Puntland by CEFA in collaboration with the academic researcher and professor who designed the solar dryer, it will be locally produced and adopted in the El-Dahir pilot farm. So far, a few farmers in Puntland have tried, in collaboration with the local private sector, to build their own active solar thermal dryer. Still, these attempts have been characterized by a rudimental design that did not consider the temperature and the speed of the air flows inside the collectors, which is actually fundamental to obtain the right moisture content of the fruits. As opposed to the traditional simple sun-drying of dates, the introduction of a certain degree of "mechanization" is aimed to achieve a dehydration process that is, at the same time:
• Far better controlled as to the precise value of process temperature to be reached and maintained over the necessary time.
• Substantially accelerated, compared to other drying technologies, particularly those that exploit the greenhouse effect (glazed ovens or plastic tunnels).
• Completely protected from the quality detrimental ultraviolet radiation that, on the contrary, occurs in the transparent tunnels.
Procurement of complementary materials, tools, and equipment for the establishment of the El-Dahir dates pilot farm
Thanks to the support of Off-Grid Box, the project has procured all the complimentary materials, tools, and equipment for the establishment of the pilot farm have been procured and are ready to be shipped with the Box. In particular, the following items have been procured: Photovoltaic Module; Inverter; Solar charger; Electric Storage; USB charging rack for power banks; Internal tank; External collection system; Internal filters; High-efficiency hydraulic pumps; Ultraviolet Sterilizer with a digital counter; Remote Monitoring system of Water and Power utilization via 2G, 3G, 4G; Heat Sealer for dates processing; Spare Parts Heat Sealer; Plastic tubular reels for packaging; Scales; Plastic Baskets; Stainless Steel (not Perforated) Table for packaging of dates; Stainless Steel (Perforated) Table for washing of dates; Alphanumeric Pricing Machine; Label Rolls for Pricing Machine; Power Banks + Bulbs for lighting; Reverse Osmosis for brackish water.
Preparation of the Off-Grid Box for shipment to Puntland
The 5x5 meters container is under preparation in Italy for shipment to Puntland, Somalia.
Please keep supporting us to see this project take over as soon as possible and give more than 350 Somali families access to clean water, energy, and food!
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