PROBLEM STATEMENT AND SIGNIFICANCE OF THE PROBLEM
Our school and its surrounding community have been greatly affected by the phenomenon of
flooding. In recent times, due to climate and environmental conditions and global warming,
flooding has become even more serious, lives have been lost, diseases are spread, schools
disrupted, loss of working time ,damage to livestock and crops and a general economic crisis in
some cases.
Our school yard floods at least two times annually and this has been having detrimental
implications on our land and garden system. The school’s garden, which is used to cultivate
crops for CSEC assessments and other school based activities is destroyed every time the school
yard floods. Additionally our garden is constantly being affected by stray animals coming into
our school compound.
In the community this situation is no different. Many of the homes in the Anna Regina area
have small scaled kitchen gardens which are greatly affected when the community becomes
flooded.
Thus an urgent solution to this problem, both at the school and community level is needed.
OBJECTIVES OF THE PROJECT
The vertical compost farming system aims to utilise the flood waters and also prevent the risk
of the destruction of the school’s garden. This green alternative will provide an inexpensive,
continuous and reliable protection to the school’s garden, the facilities and its surrounding
community while simultaneously increasing yield per unit area and the preservation of the
environment, since our project will utilise solar energy and the recycling of household materials
as compost.
APPROACH OR PROPOSED SOLUTION
Our school garden is an area where almost all of the students’ assessments in agricultural
science is carried out. However, the garden is destroyed twice per year when the school yard
floods and this has been affecting student’s grades and their learning of certain skills set out by
the CSEC syllabus. Thus, if an alternative farming practice can be introduced instead of
practicing traditional farming then this problem can be solved.
Vertical compost farming is the cultivation of crops on plant beds stacked one above the other,
with each plant bed growing a different crop. The water that would be used in this system
would come from the canal and also rainwater. The beds will be watered with a cyclic water
system. A tank connected with a solar powered pump will send water to the beds via pipe lines.
The water from the top bed will seep to the second and then to the third beds. A filter will be
attached to the bottom of each layer so as to filter the water before it reaches the other bed.
This will also aim to prevent the risk of the transmission of diseases. The water from the last
bed will be collected in a reservoir snd redirected to the tank above for recycling. In the way,
less water would be used since the method of recycling will be implemented.
Our project will also make use of household waste that can be used as compost to grow these
crops. In this way the use of inorganic fertilizers will be reduced since the compost is an organic,
environmentally friendly substrate and will be used as the plant manure. This will ultimately
lead to greater and healthier yields.
In addition, the use of solar panels to power the water pump is a renewable, cheaper and
sustainable energy source and will contribute to a cleaner environment.
Therefore, with the use of the vertical compost farming system, many problems can be solved
in making Guyanese communities more sustainable.
Method of investigation
The method we will use is questionnaire which will be distributed to one hundred members of the Anna
Regina Community to obtain information on their response to the idea of vertical compost farming, their
preferred types of crops to be grown and to determine how much waste that can be used as compost is
disposed of in a 24 hours period.
A cost analysis will be conducted using information gathered from local companies on the installation
and maintenance of this system of farming.
Online research will be conducted to determine other places that used vertical compost farming and its
effectiveness in these areas.
Description of the procedures used to collect data
Students were asked to take pictures of the flooding situation at school and the community and make a
compilation of these pictures along with their observations on how flooding has affected the school’s
garden and various parts of the school.
One hundred persons from the Anna Regina Community were interviewed to better understand the
problem and the extent to which the idea can be used to conquer the problem. The questionnaire
determined the extent to which individuals and their environment are affected by the prevalence of
flooding and also whether individuals would switch from traditional farming techniques to new farming
practices that would serve as solutions for the 21st century.
Local distributors such as Builder’s Hardware, Eshwar’s Lumber Yard were contacted for the prices of the
materials to construct the vertical compost farming system.
Findings, analysis and presentation of results
Of the one hundred persons interviewed on the vertical compost farming idea, 50 responded there they
will fully support this idea, 38 to an extent and 12 unsure.
Sales
12
Unsure
50
38
Ton an
extent
Fully
In terms of the use of the idea and its potential in solving the problem of damage to crops by flooding,
70 of the respondents indicated that such a farming system would solve the problem while 10 said that
it would not and 20 were unsure and thought that maybe it could solve the problem
CHART SHOWING COMMUNITY MEMBERS IDEA ON
THE POTENTIAL OF VERTICAL COMPOST FARMING
80
60
40
20
0
Yes
No
Unsure
THE COMPETITION
Although there are many countries and places which practice the technique of vertical farming, our idea
is a new one at the Anna Regina Secondary School and its environment. Also since household wastes will
be used as compost for the system, this will provide adequate nutrients for the plants and so increase
the yield as well as reduce waste in homes.
Thus we believe that Vertical compost farming will produce the following results:
1. Less energy use.
2. Increase of agricultural yield per unit area of land.
3. Conservation of land.
4. Reduction of greenhouse gases.
5. Fewer pesticides.
6. Reduction of global food storage.
7. Less import and greater exports leading to balance of payment surplus.
8. Healthier living.
9. Creation of jobs.
Vertical farming allows people to grow more food closer to their homes at a lower cost.
Consequently, there is a reduction in the use of energy and natural resources. Hence, vertical
farming is an excellent alternative to current farming practices since it will help to mitigate the
effects of damage to crops by flooding.
COST ANALYSIS FOR A VERTICAL COMPOST SYSTEM
Size of vertical compost farming system proposed to be constructed at ARMS is 15m*15m*10m
Number of layers- 3
Size of each tray- 12m*12m*1/2m
Distance between trays- 3.4m
Compost- 7.2 kg per tray
materials
Cement
Water
Wood
Steel
Zinc
Pipes
Mirrors
Solar panels
Solar water pump
Stone
Soil/ compost
total
amount
18 sacks @ $2000 per sack
Nil
200 bm @ $200 per bm
54 pieces @$1500 per piece
10 sheets @ $4000 per sheet
8 lengths @ $600 per length
135m2
2 inclusive of everything
1
5 tons
Nil since household waste
Cost in Guyana dollars
$36000
Nil
$40000
$81000
$40000
$4800
$18000
$100000
$15000
$75000
nil
$415,800
TIMETABLE
TASK
PERFORMED BY
1. Construct water
reservoir.
Technical
department
2. Build scaffold
framework for
vertical farming.
Technical
department
3. Place reflecting
shutters on scaffold.
Students
4. Construct overhead
tanks to conserve
water.
Technical
department
5. Build solar panels to
convert solar energy to
electric energy to
power and farm.
6. Install pump.
Science
department
Technical
department
Technical
department
8. Construct and build
plant beds.
Technical
department
10. Cultivate specific
plants on the
different beds
11. Reap produce and
form relationship with
community and local
market
MONTH 2
MONTH 3
MONTH
4


7. Connect pipe and
water dispenser to
pump.
9. Accumulate specific
plants for different
beds.
MONTH 1






Students

Students

Students and
school

RELATIONSHIP OF PROJECT TO S.T.E.M.
S- Growing plants with the use of compost.
T- Harnessing of the solar energy to grow crops and operate solar water pump.
E- Design of a vertical farming system.
M- (i) Increase yield per unit area of land space.
(ii) Cheaper energy and overall cost effectiveness.
COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT AND COMMUNITY IMPACT
During the initial stages of the investigation of the problem, the community will be involved in
the answering of questionnaires based on the extent to which their kitchen gardens are
affected by the phenomenon of flooding and how urgent a solution to this problem is needed.
After the proposal of our project the community will be involved in the marketing of the idea
and to what extent it will be relevant and accepted in the community. Further, the community
will be involved in the implementation of the project at the school level in terms of the
accumulation of materials and resources as well as implementation of the vertical compost
farming technique in their individual homes.
Our project will implement sustainable farming practices and so our gardens will not be
affected by flooding and stray animals coming into our school compound.
REFERENCES
 Chamberlain, Lisa, “Skyfarming”. New York Magazine. URL:
hptt:/www.nymag.com/news/features/30020 New York Magazine Holdings LLC. 03rd
October, 2014.
 Despommier, Dickson. “The Vertical Farm: Reducing the impact of agriculture on
ecosystem functions and services”. New York, NY: Department Environmental Health
Sciences, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University. 03 March 2014.
 Diamond, Jared. Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed. New York, NY: Viking
Press, 2005.