The Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) said it has developed a typhoon-resistant structure that could shelter farm animals during heavy rainfall.
PhilRice said Dr. Ricardo Orge, a PhilRice engineer-scientist, developed a shelter innovation called “kwebo,” which is an “easy-to-construct, typhoon-resistant structure” that requires less skilled workers to build. Orge said he thought about the innovation when he visited his hometown in Leyte, six months after the devastation wrought by Supertyphoon Yolanda in November 2013.
“There seemed to be a shortage of carpenters repairing damaged structures in the community. Even those capable of hiring dozens of carpenters had to use tarpaulins as temporary substitute for their blown-down roofs. It even took another year before the people could actually repair their farm structures,” Orge said in a news statement released on Monday.
The term kwebo is a portmanteau of two Filipino words kweba (cave) and kubo (nipa hut), according to Orge. He added that kwebo “denotes a farm structure that has the strength of a cave, with the simple design of a nipa hut.”
“With the development of kwebo, farmers can construct their own low-cost, typhoon-resistant multipurpose farm structure that can be used as a dwelling place for farm animals and equipment,” he said.
“Its construction inspired by the Lego, a popular children’s toy composed of building blocks, termed as basic construction units (BCUs) for kwebo, according to the scientist,” he added.
BCUs are composed of pre-fabricated structural elements that function like hollow blocks to build roofs, floors, beams, and posts, according to PhilRice.
The attached agency of the Department of Agriculture said the first kwebo prototype can be found in the FutureRice Farm at PhilRice headquarters in Nueva Ecija, with the shape of a dome or a tunnel, and a floor area of 20 square meters.
“It is currently utilized as seed storage and shelter for a dryer. The project team is now evaluating the prototype to ensure its structural integrity, simplicity of construction, functionality, and cost effectiveness,” PhilRice said.
“Initial results yielded some optimized designs of BCUs using concrete and indigenous, recycled, and readily available materials like bamboos, with a system of assembling these,” PhilRice added.
PhilRice said it plans to roll-out its latest technology to rural farm communities where households can be trained to fabricate BCUs and assemble their own kwebo.