The"zero-emission fridge" seed storage silo to help subsistence farmers in northern Mozambique get through the "hunger period" was a non-winning finalist at DM2009. But I have good news since the competition. Our project, sponsored by Helvetas (Swiss Association for International Cooperation), will receive approximately US$2 million from the European Commission Food Facility to establish 90 seed banks benefitting 38,000 families in 300 communities.
The success of the clay silo is a story of adaptation on two levels. First, the silo can help subsistence farmers and their families adapt to climate change that is extending the drought-caused October-to-January "hunger period." Second, the ingenious design -- woven bamboo covered by clay -- produced a silo that had all the features of the original (and more expensive) metal storage facility, but was affordable to poor farmers. A native farmer, Gilberto Tethere in Mozambique's Cabo Delgado Province, produced the "Zero Emission Fridge for Rural Africa" (ZEFRA) by developing a low-cost silo using only locally available low-cost materials and applying traditional construction techniques.
The Technical Secretariat for Food Security of the Mozambican Ministry of Agriculture has promised that this innovative silo will be built across all Mozambique.