Agriculture & Tools
The majority of people across the developing world are farmers, many of whom produce little more than their families consume. Agricultural productivity is closely linked to morale, health, education and financial well being. This creates a vital role for agricultural solutions that increase productivity and improve livelihoods.
Alternative Indigenous Development Foundation Inc. (AIDFI)
The AIDFI Hydraulic Ram Pump is a device which utilizes the energy contained in falling water (hydro power) to lift a portion of this water to high elevations.
The hydraulic ram pump developed by AIDFI is ideal for providing upland and ...
Malawi Handcart Project
The AfriCart (also known as the Malawi Handcart) is designed to improve the quality of life and the economic productivity of rural Africans. The Malawi Handcart Project resource page provides design specifications and instructions to build ...
Banana Paper Making
Banana fibers and other plant fibers can be converted into pulp for paper making. This offers a productive use of waste fibers for creating a local supply of paper and generating income. Once plant fibers are removed and dried, they are boiled ...
aQysta
Barsha is a hydro-powered irrigation pump, named after the Nepalese word for "rain". It has been developed with a vision to provide a sustainable irrigation solution to farmers across the world. This waterwheel utilizes energy from the flow of ...
Compadre
The Cafe Compadre allows coffee farmers to roast their own beans with solar energy, by concentrating the sun on a rotating drum containing the coffee beans. The sturdy device has been developed for use in rural areas and can be maintained ...
VOCA
Created by VOCA, the Centrifuge 2.0 is a low-cost centrifuge design for the extraction of avocado oil. The team is currently designing a set of centrifuge technologies to allow the production of avocado oil at the local level in small villages ...
Polisa
The Compost Box is a container made from safe food-grade expanded polystyrene (EPS) for composting organic waste. The EPS structure allows for the retention of heat, making it possible to compost in environments that would otherwise be too ...
KickStart International
From KickStart.org: The press extracts oil from sunflower, sesame, and other oil seeds. The filter produces clear, cold-pressed, nutritious cooking oil ready for sale or consumption. The seedcake by-product is valued as a high protein animal ...
Store It Cold, LLC
The CoolBot maintains the cold chain for postharvest handling of perishable commodities. It is a device that attaches to inexpensive, standard, mass-produced, window or “split-type” air conditioners, enabling it to cool a room down to 1 degree ...
MIT D-Lab
The corn sheller is a simple tool that makes it possible to shell maize several times faster than by hand. The device has the additional advantages of being robust, portable and transparent to users. A corn sheller can be made at a fraction of ...
Development in Gardening (DIG)
Development in Gardening (DIG) is improving the nutrition and livelihoods of the most vulnerable communities by supporting them in a self-directed journey to plant gardens that grow health, wealth and a sense of belonging. DIG's human centered ...
iDE
iDE's specialized drip irrigation systems lower the cost of traditional irrigation by replacing conventional emitters with holes and micro tubes, shifting water distribution lines extending to crops, and by customizing system layouts for small ...
Driptech
Driptech drip irrigation tubing delivers uniform water flow into the roots of the crop via precisely punched holes. The Driptech tubing requires no expensive and complex emitters, eliminating the top cause for clogging. To adjust for the size ...
iDE
Earth mound supported bags supply drip irrigation systems for 1000-2000 square meter plots. These bags can also be used to irrigate smaller fields through dry periods of up to several weeks. They are designed from a rugged plastic to withstand ...
Polisa
The Eco Hive is a low-cost apiary made from expanded polystyrene (EPS). Many apiaries in developing regions are made from wood, which is a poor insulator and can easily become waterlogged, leading to the growth of harmful molds.
The Eco ...
Polisa
The Eco Incubator is a high-efficiency unit for incubating eggs from oviparous animals, such as chickens and iguanas. Made from expanded polystyrene (EPS), the Eco Incubator helps retain heat within the unit, leading to greater energy ...
Esoko
Esoko is a technology platform and consulting service that helps organizations profile people and manage the information flows between them. Esoko's focus is on agricultural value chains with the explicit goal of improving the transparency of ...
Truth x Vision
Farm in a Barrel is a simple, effective tool to help someone in need start a backyard farming business. Everything needed to set up a farm is packed into a 55-gallon drum barrel and can be set up in a few hours. The project relies on local ...
The Fish Farm
The Fish Farm is a patented, micro-intensive fish farm designed within the confines of a 12-metre shipping container, delivering 2–4 tons of tilapia (or other species) annually. By placing a series of tanks, filters and pumps inside a ...
Fenugreen
From Fenugreen.com: FreshPaper is a simple piece of paper that keeps fruits & veggies fresh for 2-4 times longer, organically. Made with edible organic ingredients, FreshPaper has a distinctive maple-like scent that signals that the paper ...
Polisa
Green Towers are vertical gardens made from safe food-grade EPS containers stacked upon a pole structure, which can be made from metal, wood, bamboo or other locally sourced materials. The use of EPS containers retains moisture and nutrients ...
GreenPath
Through a multi-step approach, GreenPath Food operates a complete supply chain to assist farmers in reaching premium markets. This is achieved by:
- Investing in equipment for community farms staffed by experts.
- Teaching farmers ...
Hope in Flight
Hope in Flight uses Black Soldier Fly larvae to efficiently process waste into economically-profitable animal feed. We are an MIT team entering the 2013 MIT IDEAS Global Challenge competition. ...
Horizon International
Peer reviewed answers to problems in the interrelated areas of environment, health, poverty alleviation and development. ...
International Development Enterprises India (IDEI)
IDEI has designed an irrigation solution that is both easy to use and versatile. The portable KB Treadle Pump utilizes parts made of bamboo and plastic tubing and is activated by foot pedals. The simple design allows farmers to take advantage ...
Inspiration Green
'Keyhole Gardens' is a gardening method that uses locally available materials to retain moisture and nutrients by placing an active compost pile in the center of a round garden bed. Although most helpful in hot and dry locations, a Keyhole ...
Syngenta Foundation For Sustainable Agriculture
Kilimo Salama (Safe Agriculture) offers micro-insurance designed for Kenyan farmers so that they can insure their farm inputs against drought and excess rain. The project, which is a partnership between The Syngenta Foundation for Sustainable ...
Practica Foundation
This low cost pump-set is adapted for most small holder irrigation requirements with a two stroke engine, and low power/fuel consumption. The pump-set can be used on shallow wells or tube wells, on rivers and widely on a water surface.
Small ...
MFarm, Ltd.
M-Farm is a transparency tool for Kenyan farmers where they simply SMS the number 3555 to get information pertaining to the retail price of their products, buy their farm inputs directly from manufacturers at favorable prices, and find buyers ...
Mobile Agricultural Power Solutions
The MAPS G110 is a utility vehicle designed to meet the needs of farmers and agricultural businesses in developing countries. These people traditionally spend a substantial amount of time and effort with transportation and manual labor. This ...
Maa-Bara
Maa-Bara is a minimal-waste closed-loop sustainable agricultural model that utilizes kitchen scraps to grow healthy, fresh fish and vegetables. The Maa-Bara system increases food security by boosting the productivity of small-holder farmers ...
Jua Kali Intermediate Technology
The hand fed planter is able to plant maize (corn) and pulses (beans), as well as other seeds and a precise amount of fertiliser as a nutrient for each seed through a surface mulch under a range of soil conditions.
The design of the ...
Maya Pedal
Bicimáquinas are pedal-powered machines that assist with a variety of jobs in the home, on the farm, on the road and in small businesses. Each bicimáquina is handmade in Maya Pedal's workshop using a combination of old bikes, concrete, wood and ...
Intellectual Ventures Lab
The Milk Transportation System uses a durable 10-liter container designed specifically to reduce spillage and spoilage. Farmers can milk their animals directly into the container using a detachable funnel, which limits contaminants, helps ...
Kickstart International
The MoneyMaker Hip Pump is unique to KickStart; developed to create a lower cost and lighter weight, portable pump. It debuted in stores in 2006. Sales and marketing efforts began in 2008. The new pump sells for about $30, is very light (only ...
KickStart International
Entrepreneurial farmers in Africa are irrigating with KickStart's manual MoneyMaker Max irrigation pump to change their small subsistence farms into commercial enterprises. With irrigation, farmers can grow and sell as many as three to four ...