Yetagon
A first-of-its-kind sprinkler system to give Burmese farmers a simpler way of watering their crops.
In 2016 I worked with the team at Proximity Designs to design, build, and launch a first-of-its-kind sprinkler system in Myanmar. Designed with, and built for small-holder farmers in rural Myanmar, this new sprinkler system was, and still is, inexpensive, flexible, and reliable helping farmers to reduce their labor, their costs, and improve their yields. It retails for an obtainable $55 USD and can be installed in less than a day.
Within the first month of adopting our sprinkler, farmers save $31 USD a month in irrigation related costs, resulting in an ROI within their first two months. On average, each farmer that has adopted the system has seen a 33% increase in their yield correlating to a 25% increase in their annual income, roughly $250 USD. After a year of use, 41% of adopters reported improved health outcomes due to reduced labor and additional income to spend on healthcare. Since its launch, Proximity has sold over 4000 units (as of 2018).
Research
As Myanmar has opened up to the rest of the world Burmese farmers have been exposed to a rush of new tools and methods. It was our job to understand how farmers were adapting their approach in order to define the next evolution of Proximity’s product line.
We met our customers in their homes and their fields to help us better understand the stress a technical failure brings, risking the health of an entire yield. We documented the diverse set of modifications and adaptations our customers were making to our products. We covered miles of back roads on motorbikes with the Proximity sales team to understand how our products are sold and transported. We explored the interconnected network of knowledge and techniques shared between friends and gleaned from competitors.
5 Weeks of Research & Synthesis
2 Geographic Regions: Myanmar's central Dry Zone and the Irrawaddy Delta
6 Townships: Pyawbwe, Yamethin, Yangon, Danubyu, Hinthada, and Pakokku
45 Participants: 30 Farmers, 5 Sales Reps, 7 Dealers, and 3 Proximity Stakeholders
Design
The sprinkler system is a kit of parts—a collection of hoses, tubing, connectors, and the sprinkler head itself. It is designed to be set up in less than a day and to run for the duration of the planting season with minimal maintenance or adjustment. A flexible system of parts ensures that the components can be replaced, repaired, modified, or supplemented with parts from the local market, guaranteeing that our design would grow and adapt to our farmers' needs.
The parts we chose were not always the cheapest option, but the ones that proved most reliable. This system was rigorously tested from early iterations in the design lab to pilot systems in our farmers’ fields to guarantee a reliable system for those who put their trust in our product.
1-Person Farming
Proximity's goal from the start has always been to make farmer's lives easier, but in recent years this need has taken on new urgency, as able-bodied men of all ages leave the country in search of better work abroad. In their absence, farmers are facing labor shortages and rising costs.
Customization
Generations under Myanmar's junta rule have necessitated a culture of adaptivity and resourcefulness. Modification and problem solving are woven into Myanmar's culture of making. Farmers modify our systems not just out of necessity but as a way to demonstrate their expertise to their community.
Reliability
Previously, when things broke down farmers resorted to hiring additional labor, but with the reduction of labor our customers lost this safety net. With farmers now wholly reliant on our technology, technical problems take on a new sense of urgency, where missing a few days of irrigation can result in an entire failed season.
Make
How many sprinkler kits fit on the back of a motorbike? If you put it in a cardboard box, the answer is one. If it's in a plastic bag the answer is 3-5. With our sales reps traveling hundreds of miles on rough roads to our customers, the ability to carry an additional kit makes a difference.
Throughout the development process, we were able to leverage the lessons learned in the field to work through dozens of similar questions. From procurement and manufacturing to distribution and sales, we worked closely with the Proximity team to ensure that our good ideas ended up as a real product in the hands of our customers.
The Yetagon Sprinkler System launched on September 2nd, 2016—the first low-cost, small-scale sprinkler system available in Myanmar. At $55 USD it's less than a third the cost of a system a farmer could assemble from available components, giving farmers access to an inexpensive and reliable method for irrigating their crops.
Made in Myanmar
Our goal was to make this product in Myanmar, which meant utilizing the relationships Proximity already had, as well as building new ones. While the machine shops and factories in Yangon may not look the same as those in other parts of the world, the level of creativity and skill is some of the highest anywhere. We worked daily with these partners, and those relationships pushed us to think differently about the way we made things, resulting in a better, more Myanma product.
The Team
Tay Zar Lin
Designer
Tin Tun Aung
Designer
Aung Ko Ko
Designer, Project Manager
My Role
I was the creative lead on the project, shaping the decisions that the team made and facilitating the creative process. It was my responsibility to set and meet our deadlines and make sure we launched a product that exceeded our customer's needs and expectations.
