Specially adapted bikes that create a manual water pump for farm irrigation, simply by pedaling. The water pump bikes provide permanent access to irrigation water helping low income families. The idea behind the water pump bike was to make getting water more efficient, so more time could be spent on the crops.
Green Pedal partners with the local community to construct the Water Pump Bikes. After construction, they then install the water pump bike for beneficiary families in Sofala’s Chibabava & Buzi districts where poverty, food insecurity and hunger are at the most staggering in Mozambique. Families can than irrigate their fields throughout the year helping them grow food for their own consumption and source of income.
How do farming families in Mozambique live?
The rural areas of the province of Sofala (Mozambique) suffer serious situations of vulnerability due to the lack of food, resources and irrigation systems. This makes it impossible for families to grow enough crops to feed themselves.
Families have an average of 7 children and illiteracy reaches 90% among mothers and 50% among fathers. This is mainly due to women dropping out of school early due to early marriages or premature pregnancies.
Therefore, sustainable development in the region is urgently needed to cushion these extremes.
This is really happening now:
- 70% of Mozambicans depend on rainfall, which forces them to practice subsistence agriculture.
- They only eat maize. Their daily staple food. With it they prepare the “Shima” which is the combination of water + flour, food present every day of the year in rural Mozambican families.
- Food does not arrive for the whole year, causing food insecurity, famine, malnutrition and not very varied diets.
- It only rains 2 or 3 months of the year. The only alternative source of water is the rivers, but families do not have access to water pumping systems..
- People have no source of income. 90% of the population in these communities depends on agriculture.
- Women have no opportunities. Without education, with the burden of household and farm chores.
- Climate catastrophes recur, more and more frequently. Cyclones, droughts and floods make life even more difficult for these people.
How can we change this situation?
In the past, a farmer could carry about 5 liters of water per trip with a bucket. Now with a water bicycle pump and the power of his legs, he can achieve up to 10 liters per minute. The pump attached to the base that holds the rim makes that, by means of the friction of pedaling, they manage to extract water from the rivers much more efficiently and in a totally ecological way.
We have installed 85 water bicycle pumps in the field.
With the Bici-Bombas, sustainable development is guaranteed so that a family in Chibabava or Buzi can work, guarantee a healthy diet for the whole year and an income.
What do we achieve with a Bici-Bomba?
With a bicycle pump we achieve:
- Reduce the risk of food insecurity and therefore the instability of the production of farming families.
- Produce 365 days a year. Families will be able to increase their annual production by 50%, favoring crop rotation throughout the year.
- Improve the food variety of the population, directly affecting the quality of food of the families, since it will allow them to plant different types of vegetables.
- Generate income. Of the crops produced, 30% are for self-consumption and 70% for sale in local markets.
- Opportunities for women. Owning a Bici-Bomba water pump is equivalent to a job for each of them.
- Respecting the ecosystem. Pumping water from the river with the strength of their legs, without the use of fossil fuels. Raise awareness among the population about the importance of conserving and protecting the ecosystem for its present and future.
OUR IMPACTS
85
Water Pump Bikes installed
151
Families benefited
1000
People benefited