Campaign awareness with agricultural tips and technological thoughts

Campaign awareness with agricultural tips

and technological thoughts

Summary

Radio is still a powerful medium to reach people, they can reach the people at affordable price. They exists in every nook and corner at affordable price.
A simple radio program giving the tips, suggestions on agriculture would help,we can have an interactive sessions. With advancement in technology we can predict the seasons through weather applications and some training can be given to the students so they can interact with various teams and can create a rapport with the local farmers and technical team.
Issues faced in pamir

http://vramanu.blogspot.in/2015/06/pamir-student-interaction-with.html
There are historical data, on the types of the crops based on its characters like.

1. Min Temp
2. Max Temp
3. Soil Type
4. Amount of Water required
5. Types of Insects that affects the crop etc.

If we can provide a look up information between the weather application and the historical data through local language, radio we can address the issue. Some apps http://vramanu.blogspot.in/2015/06/smart-phone-apps-for-university.html that can help
There are some applications that can list the radio stations, http://radio-locator.com/ then we can contact them through their site and look if the are interested to work with the team.

Please ref below list:
Asia http://radiostationworld.com/asia.aspx

We can have an interview with the expert(Team), let the radio programmer ask the questions and get the answers, if we can have some agricultural students as the radio programmer it would be better as they know the subject and local issues.
Even if that doesn't work at least we can collect the questions from localities/ from students in the region(Social ser) and address it at  the end of the program.
Once a week we should have a farmer as a special guest and let them be interviewed by the programmer or local students. It should cover their experience, how they won the problems, and how the program can be improved, and how it has improved their life. This is just to keep them motivated and to show our concern for agriculture. The team develops a rapport with farmer.
Radio Program Content:

Session - 1
Description of Valley,

1. Type of agriculture,
2. Calendar followed,
3. And the Issues faced in the recent time.

detailed Program:

1. Season – Organ Mapping Coverage (Session – 1,2,3,4 ): how the days, and the organs are mapped, details such as effect of sun light in the environment, during a particular season and how this sun light / other celestial bodies effect on the organs and in turn how this change affects the environment and the other life forms in the environment. It is a chain reaction, say if the grasses retain more dew, it affects the cattle which consumes it (Yield may reduce), and in turn the humans who consumes other crops and by product of the cattle’s etc and may be prone to some issues.

The Program should be covered n months (based on season time period at max it should be 3 months if season is prolonged. If it is short it should be 1 month, and omit the optional session in the programs), ahead of the season, and there should be a repetition of the program on the key concept at the start of the next session. For e.g. in winter season, the water bodies will be frozen, so the water bodies will be less, and even in winter the temperature will vary from valley to valley, so is the amount of usable water bodies. Now because of the climate change, the cycle behaves differently. The scientific data to be collected based on parameters:
Farmers Interview: (Session 1,2.3,4,5) Where farmers share their experience, the changes they have seen or heard from their ancestors and how they found a solution for the problem etc using experiences.
Further Details:
http://vramanu.blogspot.in/2015/01/radio-program-content.html

Category of the action

Adaptation

Who will take these actions?

1. Sms Tips in local lang :The Local government should launch the radio program and if the people uses mobiles they can send sms tips as well.
2. Poster Promotion :The information can be conveyed as a posters through public transport as well.
3. World bank collaboration :An collaboration can be made with World Bank Climate Data http://climate4development.worldbank.org/ Where a section which fetches the look up data based on weather / temperature forecast of the given region. This data can be used to give tips through the radio/ to the particular region through the interactive radio sessions. One such existing application http://planthardiness.ars.usda.gov/PHZMWeb/
4. Radio Jockey training :This is related to India http://wdfindia.org/jockey.htm this organization trains the students as radio jockey.
5. Students : Will be involved in collecting the samples, and will be interacting with the technical team, research team and expert farmers team.
   
6. University: should provide some educational credit for the tasks, these students to keep them motivated. they should provide them with hardware, internet, mobile devices and research laboratory if required for their sample analysis.
   
7. Calendar research team: will be working with radio jockey on program schedule and on the program details , will collaborate with the students, technical expertise team and will nominate the expert farmers for each region.
   
8. Climate-Co-Lab :they can help in arranging online sessions .
   

Details http://vramanu.blogspot.in/2015/06/pamir-student-interaction-with.html

What are other key benefits?

1. The income gets increased and number of people will adapt their occupation according to the climate.
2. Try to use students where ever possible for few reasons, they gain experience as radio programmer, learn about climate change and can anticipate the changes and they can teach within their community, and secondly they have technology to spread message faster than other generations.
3. Probably a valuable certificate would motivate them. A tie up with the local collages would help. We can get students who can work part time as radio jockey.
4. The importance of agriculture to the students so let them take it, forward to the next generation.
5. It is not mandatory that the farmer has to be literate to understand the conversation, he can ask his questions to the programmer in the local language.
6. We can have few farmers as host in the program to spread the thoughts to their community.
7. The Students knows how to handle their people as they are locals, so let them frame the program with team guidance.

What are the proposal’s costs?

1. This should be less as we are reusing the mobile service and existing radio channels.
2. We are using students, probably if we can have a tie up with the universities and give them social service credit and volunteer certificate,  we can get more number of talented radio programmers, and we are educating the next generation about the climate impact and importance of agriculture which is the most important thing.
3. The training sessions to be given to the students from the University / climate co lab scientists
4. Device costs, and apps cost if we are using any agriculture aps
5. Radio jockey's stipend
6. Traveling expenses for the Advanced Technology Team at times
7. Local Traveling expenses for the lecturers and students
8. Optional Apps customization cost if required specific to region
9. Laboratory cost for various analysis of specimen by Advanced technology team and University's technology team.
10. Postal charges for sending the samples and tools used to collect the samples.
11. Stipend/ Social Credit points to students

Time line

The initial time will be spent in forming the groups and tie up with the local university and in establishing a good rapport with the team members.
Radio Program Content: (1 to 2 Month Program Repetitive)

Introduction:  Session - 1
The Radio Program should give a brief description, of the

1. Valley,
2. Type of agriculture followed in this valley,
3. Calendar followed,
4. And the Issues faced in the recent time.

Followed by a detailed Program on following:

1. Season – Organ Mapping Coverage (Session 1,2,3,4) -Pamir calendar
2. Research Team, Farmers Answer (Session 2,3,4,5) 
3. Students Project Coverage (Session 6):

detailed information : http://vramanu.blogspot.in/2015/01/radio-program-content.html
We need to collect the samples and train the students with some theoretical classes. So the students gain technical as well as calendar knowledge (from expert farmers)

Related proposals

The expert judgment data will contain the information from the community, researchers working with them.Along with the above information we can use the predicted/forecast climate information to provide information to the farmers.So we can build a calendar with this feedback as a delta correction in terms of days, so the farmers will understand it better.

We can classify programs

1. Optional and
2. Mandatory.

This is based on the length of the program and budget.

Initially the program should be short and crisp, slowly we need to increase the length.

Before launching this to the people, we need to promote the program

1. By using the government
2. or some advertisements through Radio
3. and through students.

This ensures

1. More number of farmers attends the program .
2. More number of students participate in the concept.

We need to take the feedback at intervals. To ensure that farmers are benefiting from such programs with some questionnaire.

From Farmers / Pastoral

1. What needs to be improved?
2. How He/She has benefited?
3. Do they want to increase the program timing?
4. Do they need access to any other resource materials?
5. How can they maintain ease communication with the team?
6. Were they comfortable with students, radio programmer, team?
7. Were the solutions useful?
8. Any tips for negative feedback?

From Students:

1. How well farmers interacted?
2. Were they comfortable with farmers?
3. Was the time given enough to complete the interview?
4. Any help required from the Technical -Team in capturing interview?
5. How well the team interacts with them? are they comfortable?
6. Any suggestion to improve the program?

Team Involved : Has been shown in the mind map itself. Going forward we can add or modify the team. We can keep the feedback capturing team within Interview Team. As they will be interacting with the farmers quite frequently.


We can have an optional program, Students View, where we can ask students to come up with some projects, given by the research team. The project need not be a detailed one, even some ideas and solutions can help. So we are having a two way communication, so it increases the participation of the community. So people pay more attention to the program and this a separate group with culture knowledge and they can come up with unusual ideas which others may not think!
Logical flow between the teams and their roles : All the actors,role are self explanatory, we need an additional team ADV ref: http://vramanu.blogspot.in/2015/06/advanced-technology-team.html

Team Structure http://vramanu.blogspot.in/2015/06/team-composition.html

References

http://planthardiness.ars.usda.gov/PHZMWeb/
http://www.bom.gov.au/watl/about-weather-and-climate/risk/risk-example.shtml
http://www.ilo.org/public/english/employment/mifacility/download/repaper21.pdf
http://climate4development.worldbank.org/#/food-security
http://www.researchgate.net/profile/Cyrus_Samimi/publication/51482531_Human_and_climate_impact_on_N_natural_abundance_of_plants_and_soils_in_high-mountain_ecosystems_a_short_review_and_two_examples_from_the_Eastern_Pamirs_and_Mt._Kilimanjaro/links/53e89c480cf21cc29fdc785a.pdf
http://www.rootgrow.co.uk/mycorrhizal-fungi.html
http://www.researchgate.net/profile/S_Breckle/publication/261596535_Effects_of_Grazing_on_Biodiversity_Productivity_and_Soil_Erosion_of_Alpine_Pastures_in_Tajik_Mountains/links/0c960534c3e6e3ed4f000000.pdf
https://winter2015.unhcrideas.org/Page/ViewIdea?ideaid=3797

Thermal insulation

Algae Frames, Dung Cake based thermal insulation

Algae Frame based home / Animal Dung Cake based walls and floor. We can have houses having sides of the wall with algae frames/ cow dung cake, along with the base. It is based on greenhouse effect when algae used and cow dung will act as insulator. The algae grown can be used to produce bio diesel and for cattle feed. A small wind mill and solar panel,can be used at the top, or a group of houses can have solar panels and others can have wind mills.

The use of algae in snowy region needs to be checked, but along with frames, the mini green house, we can grow algae http://earthsky.org/human-world/artificial-light-plant-growth the frames can be attached to the sides of the walls.
We can use algae frames http://randomthoughtsofvramanu.blogspot.in/2014/09/algae-frames-approach-to-reduce-global.html
as layer above the dung cake, or outside the houses. when they are used inside the house, probably we need to have some opening for the sun from the top of the tent a chimney vent. The light with in the house as well helps them to grow http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S221192641300091X
The dung based lining should be good, check http://www.arvindguptatoys.com/arvindgupta/ancientfutures.pdf this says how important the dung cakes are for Ladakh culture during winters, this is a place where weather conditions are quite extreme, a time worth article for this challenge please go through it.
We can use the dung paste as coating on the houses which needs to be tested, from this article it is clear that the dung cake paste are used in buildings in villages, esp in Himalayas which is coldest part of India http://www.simplysimple.info/cow-dung-and-its-uses/ they serve as plasters as well.
If we can use a normal flooring above the the dung cake flooring, i think it should be fine, the dung cakes are solid and water doesn't seeps through it. If we require we can have an out let in the floor by drilling a hole at one of the corners of the houses. So that water can pass through it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cow_dung
http://strawbale.pbworks.com/w/page/38537742/Cow%20dung%20%20mud%20paste
When we mount the wind mill and solar panel we need to have adequate spacing between the houses, alternatively, we can space them out and have it. say we can have 4 or 5 houses having powered by a windmill and same for the solar cells so we can mount them nearby the houses so we need not load the tents by their weight.
How to choose a power unit http://www.otherpower.com/popup.html
Build your windmill book  - We can give this  task to electrical students of central asia university along with some guidance,so we can use the exiting resource, so in future we can use them in other places. There are some organizations and authors who have written books on building wind mills, probably their team can help on this.

Home brew Wind Power: http://www.amazon.com/dp/0981920101/ref=cm_sw_su_dp
Wind Power Workshop: Building Your Own Wind Turbine http://www.amazon.com/Wind-Power-Workshop-Building-Turbine/dp/190217562X/ref=pd_sim_14_5/192-8740813-5891554?ie=UTF8&refRID=16X2V6BD5XYVWR04PMNR


Regarding flooring and walling:

It is been mentioned that walls can be made as per our needs "Specialty Walls" http://www.stuartrental.com/faq/tenting-101, so we probably can have wood based walls at two side and then have them coated with dung cake insulators or just have the floors with dung cake insulators and keep the walls with usual tent materials or we can give a coat of dung paste on these fiber as mentioned in above links, dung paste is been used as an insulation in huts.
But i feel dung-cake flooring should be enough to have produce an effect http://www.weatherquestions.com/What_causes_fog.htm as we are keeping the surface relatively insulated, in the case of walls its been said that Hilleberg Kerlon 1800 silnyon is the best fabric. This is been used in mountains. Probably we may not need that http://www.outdoorgearlab.com/4-Season-Tent-Reviews

1. Other use full resources:
   http://www.tentipi.com/public/Design_features_fabrics_pdf_6ghq4nesp30g844o00skkosw/Design_features_fabrics.pdf
   http://us.hilleberg.com/EN/our-tents/tearstrength.php
   http://www.walltentshop.com/platform.html
   http://www.walltentshop.com/Catframes.html
   http://www.ankn.uaf.edu/publications/vs/tents.html
   
2. We can use magnifying glass above the solar array of cells, probably it will help in capturing more energy esp in winter http://www.quora.com/Will-using-a-magnification-glass-on-solar-panel-increase-the-output-of-the-panelwe can rotate the solar panel set up based on some gear arrangement which is driven by solar radiation intensity, so that it follows the sun and shade is minimized in the colder region, along with wiper arrangement we can ensure snow gets cleared, with this arrangement we can have a better output with solar cells. In hooter regions we can have a normal set up.
   

Ref: http://www.absak.com/library/wind-turbine-home-power

Cow dung :

http://www.ipublishing.co.in/jarvol1no12010/EIJAER2034.pdf

Algae frame based solution:

http://randomthoughtsofvramanu.blogspot.in/2014/09/algae-frames-approach-to-reduce-global.html

Other References

1. Cow dung walls and floor as insulation http://www.simplysimple.info/cow-dung-and-its-uses/
2. http://www.ipublishing.co.in/jarvol1no12010/EIJAER2034.pdf
3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dry_animal_dung_fuel

Conclusion

Things to be researched / Action on priority for technical team:

1. Soil Analysis and how to replenish lost nutrients ? Avert flood by building dams/ fast growing trees where ever possible. Floods don't build up in a day, the river and water body level rises, the temperature, precipitation every thing gives us a chance to predict, with satellite images we can predict how much of water locked in as river and ice. So constant prediction of this is a must.  Follow derived and distributed approach for flood prediction  
2. Use Fauna and Flora for natural calamity prediction: The seismic waves has an effect or panic the fish, birds animals or even the earth worms, some research says more number of earthworms  gets released from the soils, when there is earthquake, at the same time some birds migration behavior changes, even the plant anomaly growth signifies a change or the upcoming nature calamity. Flora Prediction : we can do this study using thermal imaging, and biogeochemistry analysis as explained in section 4. Fauna Prediction : Maintain a historical data of earthworm population, measure its number during rainy,earthquake, upload this data with google maps or integrate with world bank climate data,  form a team with isti and can check the feasibility of expanding this thought, probably they are using earthworm alone as of now and predicting earth quakes, we can use other species that exists deep in the earth, probably some fungi/bacterias as well, but how much is this feasible only the specialized teams and org like ISTI can answer. This topic will be more important in future, we have satellite covering the earth and we are exploring many planets, but still we are not aware fully about the oceans and the behavior of the core earth, at max we need to classify the species as land borne, water borne and air borne and need to see which kind of species can predict what kind of natural calamity accurately, for e.g earthworm, below the land, will be able to predict it better than other animals, though even animals with fur should be able to predict, same is the fish, some research says fish movements can help to monitor such issues, but how much does the size of fish matters, what kind of fish, Its living zone (at what level of the sea) ?. More over, in the region where volcano activities needs to be predicted, the nearby location will be a better option as we can't get a specimen in the exact location, but how far this location will be ?, when to choose water/air ? because the volcano smoke may change the birds activity and they may not enter this region itself due to the contaminated environment, so in this case land borne / below land specie will be the choice? where worms are not burnt out, but does this predicts accurately ? then how this distance is predicted? This is a historical data that needs to be collected w.r.t temperature, species, precipitation and other values and needs to be maintained periodically if not for the public, at least for research. Some research says that there are different species of fish that are found at the bottom of the sea, so we can use these fishes movement, to predict natural calamities more accurately, say we can measure the fin/gill movement like the heart beat, the normal movement and the abnormal ones, and we can maintain this historic data as a chart.
   1. Fish should have enough movement and should be active most of time.Fish that responds well to electromagnetic waves will be more suitable, so their body structure plays a role, the fin.
   2. They should have less predators, so the prey's panic movement doesn't gets misinterpreted as an calamity, during measuring and this fish doesn't get consumed by other fish or caught by fishermen. (probably bottom of sea are best choice.)
   3. Fish movement between the sea zones, there is a possibility that fish can move to a different level of sea, say from bottom of sea to mid level. so probably we can measure the temperature and pressure level along with fin/gill movements so the oceanic researcher can predict the sea zone and try to analyze why this happened say the fish specie can move in search of oxygen, why this happened? The probable cause may not be seismic, but based on these predictions other data should be analyzed, this may be a warning for the upcoming calamity.
   4. Test Methodology: Artificial Seismic Waves
   We can probably test this by generating artificial waves, storms at a particular distance and see its prediction, or we can use the natural storms itself. The same can be tried out with river and pond fishes. For earth worm we can give electrical signals proportionate to the seismic waves and see the amount of earth worms emerging in a given area, probably weekly basis. If the natural calamity going to occur this population of earth worms are going to increase very rapidly, so the abnormality can be measured, but conditions like rainfall, as well has an impact, so take suggestions from the experts in this field. ISTI may be able to help. Fin research team Globalfishingwatch (itegrated maps beta)
   There are similar proposal for this challenge on this topic using bio-indicator , ensure that a specialized researcher are involved along with the fellow team, to ensure impact is more, for e.g. Geologist Jim Berkland claims to have a formula that uses animal behavior to accurately forecast earthquakes. If we can take suggestions/sessions from him, such formula can help in reiterating calendar and we will be able to get the answers for the above questions as well .  A must read article on this http://beforeitsnews.com/earthquakes/2011/03/earthquakes-earthworms-and-earth-changes-487990.html
   
3. Harvest of pollinating insects for fruits and seed crops: Insects like bees plays a vital role in pollination esp in mountains, due to man made changes, their population is decreasing. Having a sustained population of these insects (bees,beetles,butterflies) helps in retaining the crops and soil quality. further reading 
4. Alternate Agriculture Occupation :
   1. Probability of turning a overgrazed/Burnt land to earth worm harvest : Try to change the land to a worm harvest and see the probability of turning other lands which has less earthworms to fertile using the harvested worms, Role of earthworm in maintaining soil fertility. There are around 7000 types of earth worm, these needs to be classified according to the valley, their population at regular interval predicts natural calamities and we can use certain species of earth worm for agriculture.
   2. Bee Keepers: A new occupation can be thought to the farmers, they can take up occupation like bee keeping and help the other farmers to benefit, with the help of these bees. further reading
   3. In areas where the flood is often, and crops like rice are grown fish culture can be practiced.
5. Thermal Imaging : Remove the poisons grasses and weeds in the region you can maintain this in World bank climate data, we can use expert farmer suggestion as well for this task, there are some research on this field esp in agriculture, probably fellow, advisory team can have a discussion with them, cleaning of such plants can bring a change in air composition as well as they may ex create some undesired chemicals in air, soil. water and can contaminate them research paper , thermal imaging to distinguish the plants we can use thermal imaging to a broader perspective this helps in  1) Prediction of snow melting and flood's probability prediction by studying the thermal images of the valley and pamir as a whole by having the average of IR rays emitted by a plant specie in various season (Historic data of plant specie population, impact of temperature on the valley based on IR study). 2) Unwanted Weed/Grass/Plant classification after classifying the harmful weeds/ grasses we need to confirm it with help of a plant entomologist or they can confirm it by using  biogeochemistry at micro level where the chemistry of the samples can be studied in case it is a new specie.  
6. Process of increasing, water level in drought, affected area by Thermogenic Plantation : Some areas in this region are affected by drought, but they have a dependency on snow and glaciers, So what is the possibility of planting Thermogenic plants in this region this is as good as converting the glaciers to usable water, in a way we can see if the ground level waters are increasing in long run. Further reading. The advantage of skunk cabbage, it uses heat more lavishly, presumably to protect itself from the cold, but once the snow is gone and blooming is over, it too reverts to normal cold-blooded plant behavior. So by planting such plants there is a chance, that water locked as glaciers can melt and increase the water level in drought areas, but we need to evaluate this feasibility.
7. Fungi-root-enhancer, cover cropping and root zone watering :There are some fungi that helps in nitrogen fixation, which is important for the growth of the plants we need to see if by planting them along with the less nutrient soil helps in solving the issue, this can be used for trees and plants, it should be feasible for crops as well, but this is an area to be researched. Try to plant deep rooted trees in the possible area that grows faster, so at times of flood they can reduce the speed of water and minimizes soil erosion along  and practice cover cropping which helps in harvesting during drought. Deep root research papers Maximizing roots research in crops Strata root system to deliver water to crops, without wastage a similar root watering system can be developed with bamboos (available in mountains of pamir), by inserting them at the correct level, with needle holes and iteration mechanism, we can water the roots appropriately so we can avoid soil erosion due to excess water. The geologist can help in this research at what level these bamboos can be inserted to get optimum results, Ground water satellite images can be used as input.
8. Mixed Agriculture : the valley may support more than one crop for a season try to have both in the field and plant trees, Do a feasibility study of Fish-Crop as well do and don't must read http://www.fao.org/docrep/006/ad229e/ad229e03.htm
9. Agriculture Strategy - Crop-Fish : put the flood to use, see the feasibility of Crop-Fish practice, with proper planning Rice-Fish Agriculture check for similar crops and feasibility of treatment of mountain water with Diatom algae. If they are contaminated, the Feasibility of other Crop-Fish culture needs to be studied. Countries that benefited by this culture.The algae raised with this method can be used as fodder for cattle and can be to treat the soil as well. The feasibility study of Diatom algae usages needs to be done.
10. Grazing Strategy : Try to graze on plants more, see what kind of plants can be grown at a faster rate for e.g. algae feed, as this gives the grass time to get replenish . Grow the grasses as a part of cultivation for pastoral http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/garden/07423.html .
11. Geological measurement of the valley's height esp when there is earth quake
12. Virtual Rainfall and Snow Fall prediction : Point 9 and 10 are related, when there is a decrease in height, the wind speed may change and in turn the temperature as well. Alternatively we need to predict this with fauna and flora changes, the movement of earth worms and hairy animals probably sheep or anomaly growth of a plant, fish needs to be monitored. Their behavior changes rapidly some research says fish movements were different an they predicted earth quake, as it has a lot of relation ship with nature's electromagnetic waves.
13. Alternate energy source : Lot of solar energy can be harnessed in this region and can be used for thermal heating than burning the grass / wood / dung cakes. Which causes pollutions and we can protect the soil nutrients by switching to these sources.
14. Alternate thermal Insulation : Check the feasibility of dung cake plastered walls and algae frames in village  http://vramanu.blogspot.in/2015/06/thermal-insulation.html  feasibility study to be done by Subhashree Mishra on solar energy and algae in mini green house frames  and Dung cake thermal insulation by Catalina Oaida
    1. Algae Feed for cattle: The algae derived from algae plantation / Algae frames can be used to feed the cattle. 
15. Re-Engineer the valley :  See the feasibility of having a small turbine during the rainy / flood period, so the water descending generates power rather than destruction, See for the feasible areas, small lanes craved  in the mountain to set a path to be directed to turbine, can increase the kinetic energy, so we can get the energy for thermal insulation and then the lane of the water can lead to the algae farm/frame or crops, some crops like rice needs more water and intentionally the field needs to flooded so plan accordingly, by listing out the crops that needs more water and less water during various stages of growth.See the feasibility of closed farming / green house based farming for certain crops ref closed gardening. Possibility of Modified Hydroponic farming, using green house, by regulating the essential resources like co2, water, nitrogen and other nutrients with the help of other crops,plants combination (which can be listed using thermal imaging with help of plant entomologist )The barren lands can be put to the use of hydroponic culture, but this is more suitable for certain plants, the capital investment may be high though the yields will be good.
16. GMO Seeds feasibility for crops , grasses and trees : Can a genetically modified seed can adapt to a less nutrient and varying climatic condition, discuss about this with a plant entomologist and gmo engineer. Say is it possible to combine the genes of cactus with some other crop, so that yield is good during the drought ? what is the possibility of creating a full grown tree in a shorter period, by using plant DNA sequencing / GMO for e.g is it possible to blend the DNA sequence of algae's fast growing property, along with another tree which can be grown in various valley,by forming deep roots that can stop the flood to an extent ? GMO for deep root crops and trees needs to be studied, so that the crops and trees doesn't end up in search for the nutrients / loosing their territory,  probably we need to have deep rooted crops as well to ensure they can withstand rains to an extend.
17. Suggestion from earthworm researchers, GMO earthworm in Soil maintenance and seismic prediction : http://www.cardiff.ac.uk/biosi/contactsandpeople/stafflist/m-p/morgan-john-dr.html 

           Note : GMO:  Genetically modified organism. IR : Infrared Rays

Points mentioned in red has been updated after the proposal date, these points may be useful for the technical team, to research. So highlighting the same.

The field of GMO is still to be researched, as it have some disadvantages as well, but to what extent it can create problems to be analyzed and a call to be made based on climate change issue, issues with GMO http://www.psrast.org/soilecolart.htm but with properly invested time in developing and testing of GMO bases seeds will be worthy.

These 17 points has been generalized, for e.g Pamir mountains may not have volcano activity, but this has been generalized  so that proposal can reused to any region.the encyclopedia information has been used, to see the initial feasibility in mountain regions and its expansions, as there are  researchers, and apps  in some of these fields, the links shared will be useful for the fellow team, so that they can expand these ideas step by step based on priority. Based on the expansion the radio program can be modified, for e.g they can add a program how to tackle season as an 10 min additional program, where they can provide tips for having thermal insulation, plants to be avoided (weed, flowering plants(more water used than other crops), alternate grazing/agricultural strategy etc.

The students team needs to be involved in all these works, both local students and students who are studying this as a specialized stream. The Fellow team and the Advisory team of this challenge should guide them, with so much technology around this is quite possible with help of video conferencing  and the Central University can help and assist them in these activities.

All the 17 points are generalized topics,

Why Student's Community is important for this challenge  ?

Main reason of including student from various streams

1. The ease with which the local students can form a bond with their elders/farmers.
2. The need of maintaining the ancestor's knowledge as books, which has been lost due to local problems.
3. In future there may be a war for water and food, so we need to raise the thinkers and problem solvers and not fighters, otherwise we won't be able to have a peaceful life.
4. If we can use the specialized students in the above mentioned points (1-14), they can do projects on these lines as part of their curriculum, so we need not invest heavily on the research work.
5. We can involve the specialized students to work with the local students, so they can share a good bond across the country and gets exposure to new technologies.
6. Knowledge is like fire, the more you spread more we get awareness and the chain reaction should continue by using social media and scientific knowledge sharing.
7. This idea is intended for Agriculture tips for the entire world, so it should keep spreading by growing the students community, the involvement of students will decide the state of water and food crisis which we may face in future. Let the starting point be the Pamir mountains.

Advanced Technology Team

Advance Technology Team:

The role of adv team is to work with the technology team and pamir team. This team will not be directly involved in the radio program. They will perform their research work and will provide the information to the technology team.

Why do we need advance technology team ?

Though the technology team, works based on the historic data and the samples collected by the students.  The prediction of floods, and avalanche in the region depends on various areas needs to be done.

Some of the complex areas

1. Analysis of Snow / Water cycle : Including how the contamination of water in the region affects the agriculture. 
2. Geological surveyors of the land scape: how the land scape has changed due to the natural changes like earth quake and man made changes chemical explosions and water pollutants, change in the altitude of the mountains, its effects the change in sunlight divergence in the region and how this sun light and wind deflection changes and its effect on the water cycle, amount of green house gases and other gases emitted by man and their effect in wind speed, water, soil contamination.

The Advance Technology team should collect the data periodically and should predict the climate change in advance. Initially some training can be given to the Lecturers in the Central Asia University so that they can assist the students in collecting the samples.

Team composition

Team Composition

1. Radio Jockeys:  Students from Pamir region
2. Expert Farmers : Community of farmers selected by Pamir research team.
3. Sample Collection team - On field, Using Apps (Research Students, Local students)
4. Pamir Research Team :  Prof Dr. Karim-Aly Kassam, Morgan Ruelle
5. University Technology Team : University lecturer : Specialized in Soil analysis,  Seed Profile , Crop Planning based on season/ Mixed Farming feasibility,Field Workability, Rain / Snow Gauge, Telemetry Direct your equipment, VR Nitrogen Dependency. I am not sure if the university has all the facilities for research and teaching https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Central_Asia in case this is not possible we can get the students involved in the activities and can conduct online sessions from Climate-Co-Lab team. So we can use the university as a learning place.
6. Training Team :Web application browsing team, Apps device usage training team for students, Sample collection training team,
7. Optional Apps : Develop a customized apps for Pamir region if required. or Use the Apps like optimizer. Note: If any IT students are intrested we can give a project to them, so they can develop it which is cost effective. The Central Asia University has IT department, they can think about it, and can customize according to pamir's requirement, the calendar research team and Expert farmers can give their requirement and they can follow this document pretty use full to develop and test the apps https://rakshitagrawal.files.wordpress.com/2013/10/apchi-2013.pdf
8. Climate-Co-Lab team: Assisting the technology team with online training/guest lecture from other scientist in various fields.
9. Advance Technology team : Fellow Team (Based on technical data)

1.  Prof Dr. Karim-Aly Kassam, Morgan Ruelle for plant diversity and crop mapping prediction
2.  Anne Nolin, Catalina Oaida : Water and Snow Cycle effects along with contaminated air / wind on climate change.
3. Anne Nolin, Subahashree Mishra : Atmospheric changes and its effect on the region.
4. Anne Nolin, Natasha Udu-gama : Geographical change in the region based on historic data and current data.
5. Julia Galkiewicz : Effect of climate change, on soil microbes and its nutrients.
6. Use of Modified Seeds effect in the given region : Specialist in seed growth analyst           (Climate colab)

Note:Apart from this we can have additional team members if required, the junior research students, who can work along with the people mentioned, and the judges of this competition can also help the ADV team through online when they get time probably once in 4 months and to have a second opinion on their research work.

In Recent years there has been a change in the life style of the people, so it is a must that we need to use these changes as well in the calendar as a shift/ correction value. Though the calendar has considered the season,altitude and sun light etc, the other side of detrimental effects has not been considered for e.g the poison grasses, over gazing by cattle as the pamir region was separated from soviet union, so the pastoral area has got reduced, and the change of people's life style by consumption of energy for thermal insulation and if new type of equipments been used in agriculture and these changes relationship with microbes has not been covered. These will have an effect on the calendar correction as well, which cannot be ignored as these changes has taken place in the same area, Probably the calendar can be iterated over a period of time with some adjustment values, in the mean time i feel we can develop an integrated agriculture tips comprising technology and experts advice that can be conveyed through radio and as knowledge to students. 

          

Logical Flow Of Actors

Issues concerned with Pamir region

Smart Phone Apps For University-Students-Community

Agriculture Application For Smart Phone devices:

In addition to this, the technical team can buy one of these mobile apps after finding the best one, they can train the students in using this. The students can act as an volunteer and can help the farmers in learning these application or at least they can assist them when they require information.


Soil sample analyzing apps:

1. AgStudio MAP
2. Optimizer 2.0 http://www.advancedagsolutions.com/optimizer.php
3. iCropTrak Soil App
4. Sirrus http://www.sstsoftware.com/products-services/sirrus/

Temperature analyzing Apps

1. Climate App : This provides information on temperature on various altitudes

Other mobile aps which i found use full
http://www.croplife.com/editorial/matt-hopkins/13-new-mobile-agriculture-apps-for-2013/
http://www.croplife.com/editorial/matt-hopkins/10-best-new-agriculture-apps-for-2015/
http://www.croplife.com/editorial/15-best-new-agriculture-apps-worth-downloading-in-2014/
https://app.agrivi.com/
http://www.e-agriculture.org/content/smartphone-apps-agriculture
As there are various apps being developed, the students needs to be in sync with agricultural technologies and we can spend some time and see which apps gives an accurate data.
These data can be compared with the expert judgements and technological teams data.

Probably we can reachout to existing, apps developers for pamir regions:

https://rakshitagrawal.wordpress.com/projects/smartphone-apps-in-agriculture/
https://rakshitagrawal.files.wordpress.com/2013/10/apchi-2013.pdf

Pamir Student Interaction With Technical and Expert Farmers

Student and Farmer collaboration:

Students will be involved in collecting samples.

Soil Analysis

Importance of Soil

Soil: The nutrients content of the soil needs to be collected from, the various places with in the pamir region and should be labelled with the farmers name-area-crop-name. These samples needs to be collected as mentioned in http://www.ncagr.gov/cyber/kidswrld/plant/soiltest.htm
http://www.ianrpubs.unl.edu/epublic/pages/publicationD.jsp?publicationId=831
The collected samples can be sent to the nearby center and get the suggested fertilizers level for them.
Alternatively based on the nutrients level we can identify the crops and get the suggestion from the soil analysis department.

The Same list can be predicted by the experts of the community. and the expert farmers and technical team can conclude the list.

We need to clear the unwanted and poisonous  grasses as per this research the pastoral gets affected due to some grasses http://www.researchgate.net/profile/S_Breckle/publication/261596535_Effects_of_Grazing_on_Biodiversity_Productivity_and_Soil_Erosion_of_Alpine_Pastures_in_Tajik_Mountains/links/0c960534c3e6e3ed4f000000.pdf  they can remove the soil nutrients at a faster rate and can turn into barren lands. Some research shows that Mycorrhizal Fungi helps in growing plants but, we need to check its feasibility for crops and if Nitrogen fixation is possible? or does it help pamir soil in any way ?, Effect on Nitrogen cycle in pamir region http://www.researchgate.net/profile/Cyrus_Samimi/publication/51482531_Human_and_climate_impact_on_N_natural_abundance_of_plants_and_soils_in_high-mountain_ecosystems_a_short_review_and_two_examples_from_the_Eastern_Pamirs_and_Mt._Kilimanjaro/links/53e89c480cf21cc29fdc785a.pdf if mixed farming along with Mycorrhizal Fungi will provide results in pamir regions and make the land fertile ? a must watch documentary film on plants what plants talk about ?

Alternate thermal insulation: As per MRD-Journal research on pamir's fuel consumption the main fuel consumption in this area are more for thermal insulation rather than cooking so switch to alternate powers it will reduce the woods and grasses consumption as well, check the feasibility of idea https://winter2015.unhcrideas.org/Page/ViewIdea?ideaid=3797 
probably Catalina Oaida and Anne Nolin can comment on this, as this is their specialization, if such an thermal insulation can help this region. More over if they can switch to solar and wind energy it can save a lot of vegetation and soil erosion.



Temperature and precipitation prediction

Use of Web: With the power of internet we can forecast the weather conditions at least for few days a head http://weather.org/ where we can predict the conditions approximately.
We can predict the humidity and temperature conditions up to 10 days http://weather.org/agriculture.htm along with this data we can look the data from the soil analysis labs we can predict a crop which will be feasible to grow in the given conditions.

The samples collected will be shared by the students and there will be interactions, with the students and the technical teams. The technical teams will guide them how to collect the soil samples, and how to use the precipitation and temperature measurements and will teach them going forward how much fertilizers can be added and a short introduction can be given about mixed farming as well.


Then going forward we can have a brief session on these topics: Probably lecturers from Central asia university can assist or climate co lab can assist on on line session to students.

A basic understanding will help them, rest of the interactions can be done with the technology team as these are advanced topics in agriculture.

1. Seed Profile Improve seed selection and crop planning by customizing Seed Profiles.
2. Crop Planning Lower your agronomic risks for higher average yields by playing a lot of what-if scenarios.
3. Field Workability: Get a snapshot of how much moisture, each soils needs every day.
4. Mixed farming See what varieties got planted where based on the valley in gendral based on climates.
5. Virtual Rain Gauge Be alerted to exact rain amounts for each field.
6. Telemetry Direct your equipment based on soils, seed and weather information.
7. VR Nitrogen Dependency on rain how the nitrogen content changes? Need more N? 

Radio Program Content

Radio Program Content:

Following colors will be indicated in subsequent information about the session.

Blue – Main radio program

Red – Summary from previous radio programs

Green – Section that will be present through out the radio program.

Introduction:  Session - 1

The Radio Program should give a brief description, of the

1. Valley,
2. Type of agriculture followed in this valley,
3. Calendar followed,
4. And the Issues faced in the recent time.

Followed by a detailed Program on following:

5. Season – Organ Mapping Coverage (Session – 1,2,3,4 ): how the days, and the organs are mapped, details such as effect of sun light in the environment, during a particular season and how this sun light / other celestial bodies effect on the organs and in turn how this change affects the environment and the other life forms in the environment. It is a chain reaction, say if the grasses retain more dew, it affects the cattle which consumes it (Yield may reduce), and in turn the humans who consumes other crops and by product of the cattle’s etc and may be prone to some issues.

The Program should be covered n months (based on season time period at max it should be 3 months if season is prolonged. If it is short it should be 1 month, and omit the optional session in the programs), ahead of the season, and there should be a repetition of the program on the key concept at the start of the next session. This is because this will give the

1.                  Farmers ample time to post their questions,

2.                   Get the answers and

3.                  Anticipate the changes and be ready to face to the future.

For e.g. in winter season, the water bodies will be frozen, so the water bodies will be less, and even in winter the temperature will vary from valley to valley, so is the amount of usable water bodies. Now because of the climate change, the cycle behaves differently. The scientific data to be collected based on parameters:

1.      Types of gases, and their concentration in Air,(elevation difference)

2.      Water Analysis, the minerals present, contamination if any.

3.      Soil Analysis, amount oh the nutrients present,  (Due to erosion there may be a loss)

4.      Species, types of bees, other insects, worms which ensure pollination in certain flowers, and ensures the fertility of soil are in correct numbers in the soil samples collected in the valley.

        

6. Farmers Interview: (Session 1,2.3,4,5) Where farmers share their experience, the changes they have seen or heard from their ancestors and how they found a solution for the problem etc using experiences.
7. Research Team, Farmers Answer (Session 2,3,4,5)  This should be a week after question was posted, where a dedicated team of farmers and research team find a solution for the queries raised by the other farmers and students.
8. Students Project Coverage (Session 6): This is optional; the research team can delegate some tasks to the interested students with science / agricultural background, with some materials, so they can come up with some solutions and ideas, which motivates them and they can understand the climate change in the process.

Based on the physical, scientific data, based on soil, water, air, temperature of the region, species, a correction data should be produced, that should be mapped to time as done in the calendar where the body parts mapped to an equivalent time(season).

This data mapping or calculation should be thought to the farmers, probably a dynamic factor can be introduced for each season, which the research team provides an approximate value, as these parameters will change from season to season, in subsequent programs, competition can be introduced, to predict the correction factor for a season along with the reasons for the prediction and give a small award to the farmers who predicts it. So we can teach the farmers the logic to predict the time gap, approximately.

In a way, the location where humans live, their habits, hereditary characters have a mapping to environment. But the radio program should explain it in a simple language, by just giving an adjusting time factor, for doing the agriculture, and providing the suggestions for other issues, during the answering sessions.

In the entire process we need to use students, as mentioned in the mind map, as some farmers may not be able to ask the questions, while hearing the program, so in that case we need to collect those questions from a group of local students in the valley. Who can forward those questions to the research team through the e-mail, so a tie up is required between the local university and research team and the students will be awarded with social service credit points to keep them motivated.

Pamir Radio Mind map

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1mqXBGn5we3Ql9zWmR3cFVEX3M/view?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1mqXBGn5we3bEFRQ1p3R1VYZmM/view?usp=sharing

https://docs.google.com/document/d/13tNwYaXianOaimDxKQqxt-F7L0U2oFbLHUKdEvzCyPw/edit?usp=sharing

Mind-Map Radio Program Pamir Region

As mentioned in the mind map, we can classify the programs as

1. Optional and 
2. Mandatory.

This is based on the length of the program and budget allocated.

Initially the program should be short and crisp, slowly we need to increase the length.

Before launching this to the people, we need to promote the program

1. By using the government
2.  or some advertisements through Radio
3.  and through students. 

This ensures

1. More number of farmers attends the program .
2. More number of students participate in the concept.

We need to take the feedback at intervals. To ensure that farmers are benefiting from such programs with some questionnaire.

From Farmers / Pastoral

1. What needs to be improved?
2. How He/She has benefited?
3. Do they want to increase the program timing?
4. Do they need access to any other resource materials?
5. How can they maintain ease communication with the team? 
6. Were they comfortable with students, radio programmer, team?
7. Were the solutions useful?
8. Any tips for negative feedback?

From Students:

1. How well farmers interacted?
2. Were they comfortable with farmers?
3. Was the time given enough to complete the interview?
4. Any help required from the Technical -Team in capturing interview?
5. How well the team interacts with them? are they comfortable?
6. Any suggestion to improve the program?

Team Involved : Has been shown in the mind map itself. Going forward we can add or modify the team. We can keep the feedback capturing team within Interview Team. As they will be interacting with the farmers quite frequently.