We have finally finished our poster demonstrating our process to creating a solution to the issue of food insecurity in Haiti, specifically soil degradation. The link below contains our poster that we will be presenting at our exhibition.
Prototype
Hello there! We have finally built our prototype. We used the sketch as seen in a couple of posts ago, and made a before and an after view of the biodegradable mat. As you can see the “before” is a mat made out of jute and inside filled with clay and compost. The right side represents “after” and shows how the jute has already been degraded into the soil, as well as the nutrients inside.
Health Educational Flyer
Hey everybody! I would like to share the link to our amazing flyer on our engineering-based solution, NEM. The flyer would be given to the people of Haiti, specifically Haitian farmers. What exactly NEM is, why is it need, what issue will it solve, and how would it be used is all explained in the flyer, so the Haitian population will become educated on the issue of soil degradation and food insecurity and a possible solution for the issue. Our hope with the flyer is to get people educated and willing to try the implementation of our biodegradable mat that will help replenish their soil and increase crop yield.
Sketch of Compost Mat
NEM
We are almost ready to reveal our completed prototype for out compost mat. I just wanted to give a brief overview of what our prototype is about and our sketch. We will be uploading pictures of our finished product later today. Now I would like to introduce NEM, our nutrient enriched mat!
NEM: Our engineering-based solution for the restoration of nutrients into Haiti’s rapidly depleting soil is our biodegradable compost mat, also known as NEM (Nutrients Enriched Mat). The compost mat is composed of three main layers. The bottom layer is a netting material made from jute fibers. This biodegradable jute netting material also servers as the top layer of the mat to hold the middle layer in place. Compost from SOIL, straw bale, wood chips, and dried leaves are all mixed together to form a compost mulch mix and flatten into a blanket-like layer through the use of a solar-powered hydraulic compression machine. The jute netting will slowly begin to biodegrade and what will be left is the nutrient rich compost layer.
Our prototype demonstrates a before and after of what essentially the netting will become after it has been set in place for a couple of months. Our health educational flyer goes into further detail of our mat, and our poster will explain NEM more in depth.