Losing his job as an electrical appliance repairman turned out to be the best thing for Hobson Nkosi. It sparked a creativity he never knew he had.
The 33-year-old from Dwarsloop, near Bushbuckridge in Limpopo province, wanted to start a bakery, but a new oven cost too much.
His mother had told him stories of women who baked in termite mounds. “They would make a wood fire inside a termite mound and when it was hot they would remove the fire and put in baking pans,” says Nkosi. So he took an old oven he had and layered the bottom of it with soil. He also filled in any gaps around the oven with soil. “The soil works just like an insulator to conserve heat.” The stove still works with electricity and its temperature can be controlled.
Nkosi has hired four men to help him mix dough, bake and sell bread in Dwarsloop, at R2 for brown bread and R2,50 for white. “The production costs are very low because we are using our hands to mix the dough,” he says.
Nkosi was trained to bake at the Mhala Development Centre in Thulamahashe and recently he was given the opportunity to showcase his ingenuity to members of the Commonwealth Science Council at the Polokwane showground.
The council comprises 10 countries — South Africa, Swaziland, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia, Kenya, Tanzania, Seychelles, Malta and India — and is chaired by Minister of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology Ben Ngubane.
It met in Polokwane to try to come up with ways to market and protect the ideas of rural innovators, such as Nkosi and his fellow Limpopo resident Edward Nkwinda.
Nkwinda converts car engines into water pumps. His novel pump is on wheels and so can be towed to a secure place after use, rather than being left near the dams or rivers where it could be stolen. It can also be used to propel a mealie grinder. Nkwinda sells these pumps for R3500 each.
Innovations from rural India on display at the Polokwane showground included Amrutbhai Agravat’s two-wheel cart, which offloads goods like a tipper-truck. The cart not only helps take the load off the animals, it cuts down on human labour as it takes little effort to operate.
“This cart can also be used in South Africa because some people are still using donkeys for transport,” said Agravat.
Another invention is Mansukh Jagani’s chemical spray and irrigation pump, which is installed on a bicycle. While the farmer pedals, water or pesticide sprays out of a pipe at the back of the bicycle. The bicycle pump can spray or irrigate seven lines of crops at the same time and so saves the farmer money and time.
The council undertook to develop legislation in member countries to protect traditional knowledge and rural inventors.
“This will provide incentives to knowledge-holders and innovators to disclose their creativity and help lateral learning among member countries,” said Ngubane.
The council also resolved to create a financial facility to help develop rural innovations and traditional knowledge into enterprises. This facility will assist inventors, with the potential of relieving poverty through job-creating projects.
The council will also establish an international registry of innovations and traditional knowledge to provide inventors with global copyright. — African Eye News Service