Please find below the
Finalist Evaluation
Judges'' comments
Proposal: From Agro-Waste to aSustainable Income Contest: Land Use: Agriculture, Forestry, Waste Management Thank you for your contest entry. Thank you for your contest entry. We appreciate your willingness to share your ideas and also the time and effort you put into developing a proposal and submitting it to the contest. We have reviewed your proposal and found that it contained intriguing elements; however, have chosen not to advance it to the next round of competition. We encourage you to keep developing your idea. Transfer your proposal to a Workspace to re-open it, make edits, add collaborators, and even submit it into a future contest. You can do so by logging into your account, opening your proposal, selecting the Admin tab, and clicking “Move proposal.” We welcome you to stay involved in the Climate CoLab community: support and comment on proposals that have been named Finalists, and vote during the public voting period to help select the contest’s Popular Choice Winner. Climate CoLab will be opening more contests throughout the year and you are welcome to submit your proposal to those contests as well. Keep up the great work. We hope that by working together, we all can create solutions that wouldn’t otherwise be possible. Sincerely, Contest Fellows If there are additional comments from the Judges & Fellows, they will be included below.
The proposal does not link to GHG emissions reductions or demonstrate how it will impact GHG emissions. It focuses more on outcomes related to agriculture, food security and other development topics.
Semi-Finalist Evaluation
Judges'' ratings
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Judges'' comments
The proposal is well thought out and we appreciate that you've considered the logistical aspects of the project as well as the cultural and economic aspects. We also believe that the proposal is replicable if successful and could create widespread change in current practices. We are pleased to advance this proposal to the next stage with the following comments:
Bioconversion is generally a good idea, if it can be carried out efficiently. During the next round it would be good to identify a specific village to show that it is really feasible - including what are the actual costs and timeline for such a project.
The GHG emissions reductions should also be clarified.
 Akanksha Ahuja Nov 16, 2017 05:41  | Proposal creator Thank you for your kind feedback! We have tried to improvise the proposal according to your requests. Here is the detailed list of justifications of the proposal- |
Akanksha Ahuja Nov 16, 2017 05:37 | Proposal creator
DOI: 10.3923/biotech.2010.338.342 URL: http://scialert.net/abstract/?doi=biotech.2010.338.342 Like other mushrooms, oyster mushroom can be grown on various agricultural waste with the use of different technologies. In Ghana, the main substrate for the production of mushroom is sawdust. Sawdust is a mixture of shavings from many trees and depending on the type of tree and the amount of lignin present, the growth of the spawn can be inhibited. Moreover, with the increasing expansion in the poultry industry, there is high demand for sawdust, thus making it difficult and expensive for commercial mushroom growers to get the sawdust. One farm produce that is easily available in Ghana at all times is the corn cob. During the main harvesting period, corn cobs are in abundance and farmers dispose of them by burning. If grounded corn cob can support the growth of oyster mushroom, then it would serve as a cheap source of substrate for mushroom growers.
b) PRODUCTION OF OYSTER MUSHROOM USING SIMPLIFIED TECHNOLOGY Authors: M.H. El-Kattan, Gad E.M. Salama DOI: 10.17660/ActaHortic.1996.434.49 URL: http://www.actahort.org/books/434/434_49.htm Pleurotus ostreatus. Cultivation studies were conducted in a greenhouse at Mushroom Res. Farm, Protected Cultivation Center, ARC, Dokki. Soaking in hot water, as a simplified heat treatment, was adapted for the preparation of the different combinations of the waste materials. Both yield and quality of oyster mushroom have been improved by supplementing rice straw with legume waste. The highest beneficial effect on yield was achieved when rice straw was supplemented with 50% legume waste. The biological efficiency, i.e. kg of fresh mushroom harvested from 100 kg of dry substrate, were 121.3 and 116.2 for P. ostreatus and P. florida, respectively.
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Akanksha Ahuja Nov 16, 2017 05:20 | Proposal creator 2. GHG Emission Calculation
a) India:
According to papers, the Total crop residue in the year 2014 was 620.44 million tonne per year. This approximates to about 5% of the total GHG emissions by the country. Over the successive decades as we spread this movement and educate people about alternatives such as mushroom cultivation till the estimated adoption of 100% of the proposal by 2050 we can reduce the GHG emissions by 5% in India and similarly in other proposed countries. By 2020, 25% villages will be worked upon. That is approximately 5000 villages. Each village has approximately targeted 24,000 kg of husk. The literature mentions that on an average 300 C02 is released per 5kg of 12.6% moisture crop residue burning or we can extend that to 10kg at 23.6% moisture. In 1 typical village: Oyster Mushroom Cultivation: 6000 kg of husk Sold to markets: 18,000 kg of husk
That means, 180 kg C/kg for Mushrooms and 540 kg C/kg for redirecting it to markets. 720 x 5000 = 3.6 million tonnes of carbon emissions prevented if 25% adopted. India has over 6,40,000 villages (http://villagesinindia.in/) which means-
b) Pakistan Underemployment remains a serious problem, and a growing concern for Bangladesh's agricultural sector will be its ability to absorb additional manpower. Finding alternative sources of employment will continue to be a daunting problem for future governments, particularly with the increasing numbers of landless peasants who already account for about half the rural labour force.
d) Vietnam The relaxation of the state monopoly on rice exports transformed the country into the world’s second or third largest rice exporter.In 2004, agriculture and forestry accounted for 21.8 percent of Vietnam's gross domestic product (GDP), and between 1994 and 2004, the sector grew at an annual rate of 4.1 percent.(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agriculture_in_Vietnam)
Number of Villages in Vietnam : 9,111 rural communes or rounding it off to 9100 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rural_commune_(Vietnam) e) Sri Lanka The primary form of agriculture in Sri Lanka is rice production. Rice is cultivated during Maha and Yala seasons. Out of the total population in Sri Lanka, 31.8% engages in agricultural activities. Agriculture and allied sectors like forestry and fisheries accounted for 18% of the GDP (gross domestic product) in 2014, about 26.4% of the workforce or employment.(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agriculture_in_Sri_Lanka) Assuming every other country has similar agro waste production as that of India Number of Villages in Sri Lanka : 27 districts
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Akanksha Ahuja Nov 16, 2017 05:07 | Proposal creator 3. Reasons for Stubble Burning How do we solve the problem of paddy stubble being burnt? One, find out why the paddy stubble is still being burnt. Identify the reasons why farmers still prefer to burn the stubble rather than transporting them to a power plant. Two, make it more economical for farmers to transport the stubble. This can be done by opening more facilities to dispose of them, improving connectivity, and reducing overheads through minor subsidies or incentives. Three, penalise farmers who burn the stubble. The Amarinder Singh government in Punjab needs to take this seriously as a bulk of the crop stubble being burnt is from Punjab. Four, rope in the private sector to set up more power plants to dispose of the crop stubble. A privately owned entity will certainly put in more effort to collect crop stubble as a raw material than a government body." (https://swarajyamag.com/ideas/we-told-you-so-its-not-diwali-delhis-smog-comes-from-stubble-burning)
Our proposal was designed before the article was published and we aim to implement each of the steps. 1. It's easy to get rid of when it’s burned 2. It doesn't take much time and allows them to put their efforts into sowing the crop for the next season 3. They can't afford the labour to dispose of the stubble and the machines which are used to dispose it aren’t affordable by most farmers 4. They want to have 4 crops a year hence they are running short on time. If they don’t, the loans taken by the farmer can be difficult to pay off 5. Close minded farmers and follow the crowd hence they see nothing wrong in burning crop residue, a practice that is ongoing for ages. 6. Punjab and Haryana are relatively greener areas hence the pollution doesn't affect the air that much but since they both are near Pakistan and are a part of India as well, cities with fewer trees get affected the worst.
b) We created a business process mapping to make sure all aspects of crop residue burning as well as employability are covered. Our process included the transportation of products and husk to end users using online markets as well trucks in the North Indian region.
c) The crop residue, 2000kg from each contract is divided into two parts- 500kg for mushrooms and 1500kg for sale.The 1500kg can be transported to power plants and complete the whole chain of problems arising due to stubble burning. |
Akanksha Ahuja Nov 16, 2017 05:58 | Proposal creator 4. Potential Mapping - No of farmers and No of Labourers in India Total Number of Agro Labourers: 94% of 487 million = 457 million |
Akanksha Ahuja Nov 16, 2017 05:41 | Proposal creator
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Akanksha Ahuja Nov 16, 2017 05:04 | Proposal creator
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Akanksha Ahuja Nov 16, 2017 05:20 | Proposal creator
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Akanksha Ahuja Nov 16, 2017 05:06 | Proposal creator 5. Timeline of Proposal Initiation of Phase 1: September 2017: October 2017: December 2017: April 2018: June 2018: October 2018: December 2018: |
Akanksha Ahuja Nov 16, 2017 05:43 | Proposal creator
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Akanksha Ahuja Nov 16, 2017 05:31 | Proposal creator 6. Financial Cycle 1 |
Akanksha Ahuja Nov 16, 2017 05:02 | Proposal creator 7. Financial Cycle 2 |
Akanksha Ahuja Nov 16, 2017 05:25 | Proposal creator 8. Financial Cycle 3 |
Akanksha Ahuja Nov 16, 2017 05:22 | Proposal creator 9. Production Cost |
Akanksha Ahuja Nov 16, 2017 05:56 | Proposal creator 10. Total Project Budget |
Akanksha Ahuja Nov 16, 2017 05:28 | Proposal creator 11. Cost Benefit Analysis |
Akanksha Ahuja Nov 16, 2017 05:57 | Proposal creator 12. Graphs |
1. Yield Specification of Mushroom
