Section taken from the Yakowa Market Grant Application: The Yakowa Market Pilot Project will be located in the city of Kafanchan, Kaduna State, Nigeria (GPS : 9°3539.85N 8°1839.21E) . The current marketplace was hastily constructed after the original market was razed during political unrest in 2011. The Yakowa market is home to approximately 200 full-time vendors, with the number of vendors soaring to over 700 during festival periods. The market sees up to 5,000 visitors on weekdays, but this number doubles to over 10,000 during the weekend and festival periods. The market turnover is estimated at 5,000,000 NGN on average. Vendors scrabbled to select trading sites during the rebuilding of the market, resulting in structures that are neither built to code nor properly designed to maximize the market area. The target population for the pilot project is the highest-risk vendors – butchers and fish sellers. Currently there are 15 butchers and 5 fish sellers, all selling their products in the open air, with no access to affordable or reliable electricity. Currently the butchers union slaughters one cow a day and each member takes their portion for trade. The meat is left on wooden tables with no refrigeration or other protection to ward off food-borne diseases. The fish sellers have two collective refrigeration units, which are filled with ice every morning. When diesel fuel is available they may run a small generator to provide cooling. This method is not only very expensive based on the cost of the diesel and the need to run this generator constantly during the dry season, but also adds both noise- and air-pollution to the marketplace. The market is not connected to the main electrical grid, nor has there been any planning or infrastructure installed to allow for the connection to the main distribution line or local transformer that services the area. Very few of the vendors have access to alternative forms of power; mostly small diesel generators. A central generator is available, but is only used when there are enough vendors willing to pay for the diesel fuel to run it. When it is run, it is often overloaded. The constant overload, along with the age and lack of maintenance on the generator, make it a poor choice to provide reliable electricity. Also, as with the smaller generators, it greatly increases the noise- and air-pollution in the narrow streets of the marketplace. The project will address the problems of disease prevention and sanitation (MDG 7C) while reducing carbon dioxide emissions (MDG 7B) by promoting renewable power sources (MDG 7A), as well as create a better working environment to benefit women working in the market (MDG 3). The current market building where meat and fish are sold has no reliable refrigeration units or product storage areas. Perishable goods are kept in an unrefrigerated, open-air setting during the day and stored off-site in questionable conditions overnight. The probability of meats and fish becoming contaminated with food-borne pathogens is high. When needed, diesel generators are used to produce electricity. Noise and fumes from these generators affect the health and wellbeing of market vendors and customers. If a vendor uses a generator which consumes 3 liters of diesel per day, they would produce 2 metric tons of carbon dioxide after only 270 days of use (based on 2.5kg of carbon dioxide produced per liter of diesel). With 20 vendors housed in the proposed structure, this project could reduce carbon dioxide emissions by over 40 metric tons per year by utilizing solar PV and SMA island technology. The use of local materials and labor will benefit the community’s economy. A majority of vendors are women, with the Women’s Union being one of the largest and strongest in the market. By shifting the O&M of market buildings from the women to dedicated staff, it relieves the women from mundane tasks and allows them to focus on their trade.
Posted on: Tue, 01 Jul 2014 08:10:20 +0000
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