The project “Food Security and Innovative Farming Approaches for Mongolia” (2010-2013) is led by the French NGO “Secours Catholique”, implemented by Mongolian NGO “Caritas Mongolia” with its technical partner French NGO “GERES” and in collaboration with Ministry of Food and Light Industry and Gobi-Altai province government.

The objective is to develop more efficient and diversified ways to grow vegetables at household level in order to reduce food insecurity which affects the most vulnerable families. The project targets 1,000 families in Ulaanbaatar and in Gobi-Altai province.

Given the harsh climate of Mongolia and the short growing period, growing vegetables is difficult and the current tunnel greenhouses can only be used for 3-4 months.

The project intends to diffuse Solar Greenhouses in Mongolia. Solar greenhouses exist in most of Asian cold areas (China, Central Asia and Himalaya). This type of greenhouse is mainly composed of three walls with a small roof and is oriented to the south. It enables to extend the growing season by providing a warm climate inside the greenhouse during cold periods.

This book targets farmers or organizations willing to build their own solar greenhouse. It gives them practical guidelines to construct the greenhouse. If they don’t have construction skills, they should take advice from mason and carpenter.

The handbook presents step by step instructions to construct one design of solar greenhouse and gives plans and list of materials for 3 different sizes: 30m2, 60m2, 120m2. This design has been developed by the project and experimented successfully since 2010. Alternative options for construction will be explained at each step, for example for walls, roof. One other low-cost design, is also presented at the end.

Information

• Edition: Geres
• Authors: Anne Randall, Tegshbayar Sandujav
• Language: English
• Year: 2012
• Pages: 37