Zero Energy Cool Storage

One of the main issues of the commercialization of agriculture is the lack of storage capacity for the farmers’ organizations (FOs) especially those that produce fresh vegetables. Without effective storage system, farmers cannot consolidate their produce and manage demand-supply opportunities properly. That is why oftentimes, there is too much supply during peak season and there is not enough supply to the market in other period of the year.

Some development projects invested in modern cool storage system for the farmers. However, they completely failed because the system is too big and farmers do not have enough produce to keep in the storage. Moreover, the operating cost of the system is very high due to the cost of electricity and its maintenance.

Innovations / Good Practices

In 2017, Lao Farmer Network piloted zero energy cool storage system in 3 locations: with the bitter bamboo group in Oudomxay province, with the organic vegetable group in Vientiane capital, and with the vegetable cooperative in Xiengkhouang province. The system is designed based on experiences in an organic farm in Vangvieng, Vientiane province.

The storage is 4 x 4 x 4 meters and 2 meters down from the soil surface. The storage is naturally kept cool by the soil temperature. The storage also connects to cool air source such as air from spring well or natural creeks. The cool air comes in and the warmer air go out the storage by itself without using any electronic device.

The construction costs around USD 2,000 which can keep 2-3 tons of vegetables. The temperature is about 4 – 7 degrees Celsius different from the outside.

Based on the experience of the Thongmang organic vegetable group, they can keep cabbages in the storage for up to 40 days. Ms. Khammone, the head of the group, said, “It is better than nothing, even though the storage is not cool as refrigerator, but inside the storage, we can keep our produce from wind, sun light, and heat.” 

Impact

The FOs now have a storage where they can keep their produce when the prices go down. Vegetable groups that sell fresh produce used to throw away the leftover produce, but now they can keep them in the storage for other uses. The Thongmang vegetable group buys vegetable that they cannot grow from other groups in Xiengkhoung and Hoaphan province. In the past, they cannot do this, but with the storage it is now possible.

Facilitating Factors

• Low construction cost. Farmers can even contribute labor for the construction of the storage.
• Low operating cost. No electricity is needed to operate the storage.
• Responds to the problem of farmers

Challenges

• Needs time to water the building to keep it cool
• Need to build the storage near natural cool air source such as a well or a creek
• The produce needs to be pest-free, otherwise, the pest will keep damaging the produce in the storage

Lessons Learned

The storage development must go hand-in-hand with the marketing development of the farmers’ organization, meaning that the farmer group need to have a marketing plan to purchase the produce from members, to stock the produce and have a plan to market them in order to ensure utilization of the facility.

Recommendations

The design can be modified in size. It requires more action research to find the best model for specific condition of the farmer group.