• From Seed to Shelter plans to launch a microgreens farm as a pilot project to assess its effectiveness in improving diet diversity within a refugee community and to evaluate its feasibility as a scalable solution.

The pilot will evaluate the model based on data collected which will help address the following key areas of interest:

• A) Does the 'split-growing model' work?

  • • Will camp residents be able to successfully grow and harvest the germinated crops (amount of produce grown)? 

    • Will a circular model of having residents swap harvested trays for germinated trays be feasible?

• B) Does the cost of the program justify its adoption over other more traditional programs?
  
  

• C) How is the solution received by the community and other stakeholders in the camp?

  • • Are camp residents wanting to consume these foods? (Is there demand?)

    • Can they be integrated into food that residents are accustomed to?

    • What are camp residents willing to pay for these foods? Will it cover the costs, and to what extent? (e.g., utilities, but not seeds)

    • Will other stakeholders be supportive, and is there a way to integrate the solution into the ecosystem of actors?
      
      

• D) Are there community-wide health benefits evident in both self-reports and practitioner observations?

  • • If we survey consumers before the project and after some time, are they likely to report any noticeable health outcomes?

    • Do healthcare practitioners in the camp notice any camp-wide health benefits (e.g., a reduction in new infections)?

CapEx: Philanthropic organisations

• 1-time payment to get something up and running

OpEx (seeds): Humanitarian actors

• Continuous logistics delivery

OpEx (utilities): Business owner

• Running costs that business owner (camp resident) can cover

Rationale:

1. Philanthropy has a role to play, but it cannot be relied on long-term to mean that projects fail if funding stops. Instead, it can catalyse each new farm.

2. Humanitarian actors already create supply chains for dry foods - often calorie-dense legumes and grains. The main growing inputs that these farms would need are not so different (being dry seeds) and humanitarian actors are well-placed to deliver these in ways that they might not be well-placed to deliver fresh foods. Microgreen farms can convert these seeds into fresh foods (e.g., sunflower seeds into sunflower sprouts) and in doing so increase their micronutrient content significantly. This can get nutrients to camps in a way that humanitarian supply chains cannot with fresh foods.

3. Business owners (camp residents) would benefit from this arrangement as seeds are the most expensive part of the business, and having this expense covered can allow the owner to focus on growing and distributing the product at scale.

*While the pilot may not be able to source funding in this way initially, it is hoped that it may transition to this style of mixed financing eventually, or in future iterations.