Annotating and Outlining “The Village of the Future –

A Cure for Urban Overpopulation”

By:
1. Puti Nabilla Aidira (16521078)
2. Muhammad Thoriq Ramadhan (16521096)
3. I Dewa Made Manu Pradnyana (16521186)
4. Fathiya Amani Shabira (16521210)
5. Shidqi Indy Izhari (16521318)
6. Jazmy Izzati Alamsyah (16521324)

Dosen: Dra. Ayi Rohayati, M.A.

Kelas: KU1024-10

SEKOLAH TEKNIK ELEKTRO DAN INFORMATIKA

INSTITUT TEKNOLOGI BANDUNG

2021
 The Village of the Future - A Cure for Urban Overpopulation

In a rural Asian village, the sun overhead scorches the already parched earth. It’s the dry
season and the nearby stream, source of much needed water for irrigation, is dry. The rural
farmers’ meagre savings are rapidly dwindling and the rice they have stored from the last harvest
will soon be finished.

It is little wonder that many rural farmers are deciding to join the ever-increasing migration
of rural poor to already overcrowded cities, seeking employment of almost any type.

Technology applicable to the more sophisticated agricultural systems of industrialized

nations could possibly help the poor Asian farmer. But generally working only small plots of land,
sophisticated equipment and new methods of agriculture are in many instances unsuitable for
the needs of the farmer and too expensive for his meagre income.

At the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) near Bangkok, Thailand, an international faculty
and some of the brightest graduate students in Asia are working on appropriate technology to
hopefully reverse the cycle of poverty in rural Asia, by increasing the farmers’ productivity and at
the same time improve the quality of life.

Traditional methods of agriculture and lifestyles need not cast aside, but integrated with
new methods of production and housing to improve the farmer’s lifestyle and provide a
brighter future for his children.

There has been much written about the city of the future. It could possibly be that a ‘village
of the future’ might be the cure for urban ills.

At the Institute, work is under way on biogas digesters, using night soil mixed with rice
straw and water hyacinth to produce cooking gas. The slurry producing plankton from the tanks
is fed to Tilapia fish in nearby man-made ponds.

The biogas digesters are constructed of low-cost concrete cylinders, the tanks then
constructed with plastic pipes. The gas may be produced from either human or animal waste.
After the initial cost of construction, a veritable free source of gas and fish food is available.

Critical to any farmer is a reliable source of water. A study has been completed at AIT
which recommends that villagers own and operate village water projects by forming Village
Water Committee. It was found that a strong sense of ownership ensures proper operation and
maintenance of the water supply.

The study also reported that the only solution for water supply in some areas would be
to dig ponds or deep wells.

Under a grant from the International Development Research Centre, IDRC, Canada, a low-
cost hand pump is being developed, constructed at plastic, which will be operational to depths
of at least 46 metres.

With an ever-increasing population, many sources of drinking water for villages are
polluted. A low-cost slow sand filtration water purification system has been developed. Water
is pumped into a refiltration rock bed, then further pumped into concrete tanks where the
water is filtered through sand, producing clean, potable water.

One crop which fetches a good market price and is very nutritious is soybeans. In an effort
to increase the use of paddy growing land during the dry season, farmers in Taiwan and
Thailand plant soybean directly into rice stubble, thus avoiding the need for tillage.

Most of the work is performed by women and is both back-breaking and time consuming. In
order to improve the planting both in efficiency and convenience, a simple manually operated
soybean seeder has been developed.

Normally workers are required to either bend over or squat while sowing soybeans. By using
the soybean seeder, the worker stands, pressing the seeder into the rice stubble to plant the
seed. Soybean production is increased and the labour made less back breaking.

Poor farmers are usually forced to sell their rice harvest immediately – at prevailing prices –
or face spoilage, especially during the rainy season. One innovation which will make the second
– rainy season – crop more profitable is a low-cost solar rice dryer. Constructed of bamboo and
covered with clear plastic, it allows the farmer to dry his rice harvest more efficiently, with less
kernel crackage and loss to rodents and birds. The only source of energy is the sun, its rays
striking a layer of husks, the hot air then rising through a woven mesh floor in the drying unit
and dispersing through an overhead chimney.
 For low-cost rice storage, a ferrocement rice storage bin has been developed. Ferrocement
is particularly suited for developing countries because its basic raw materials – sand, cement
and reinforcing mesh – are readily available in most countries.

Ferrocement does not require heavy machinery for construction and the skills for
ferrocement construction are quickly acquired. Properly fabricated, it is more durable than
most wood products and cheaper than imported steel.

In many remote villages with no source of electricity, the refrigeration of perishable crops is
usually impossible. A solar refrigerator has been constructed at the Institute to study its
reliability and applications in rural Asia.

A low-cost method of building houses for the urban poor or village groups has been
developed. Known as ‘Building Together,’ groups of families build their own homes.

To keep costs at a minimum, members first construct a small factory and then produce their
own ground beams and bricks. One group of community members are able to produce 400
blocks per day, with 625 blocks required for construction of one two-level house.

Other low-cost materials developed at AIT include the use of bamboo with rattan bindings
to replace steel reinforcement for road construction. Burnt rice husk ash has been used as a
substitute for cement to make concrete. With such innovative technology and dedication the
village of the future could be a far better place to live in.

Main idea

Supporting details

Key word

Example
Outline:

Questions:

1. Why have so many of the rural poor left their village?

2. What problems has this type of migration caused?
3. What ‘cure for urban ills’ is proposed, and what is the Asian Institute of Technology
attempting to do to help?
4. Find the thesis statement (the topic sentence).

Answers:

1. Because in the current state of the village where they lived, it is almost seemed
impossible to earn income and they had no savings left to fulfill their primary needs.
Therefore, they had to migrate in order to find a new job.
2. One of the main causes is the inevitably bad geographical condition. For example, when
the sun is burning super-hot, the farmers can’t really water their plants. The other
problem is doing the job is exhausting and require a big amount of energy. Farming uses
a lot of activities that it is also not easy to do.
3. The Asian Institute of Technology offered some of their research in order to help the
villagers. Two of the many solutions that they proposed are the creation of a low-cost
biogas digester and the solution to water supplies.
4. The thesis statement that is written in the text is: With such innovative technology and
dedication the village of the future could be a far better place to live in.

Topic: Ways to create a better village in order to prevent overpopulation.

Main Idea: 1. Affordable and acquirable innovations are the main point of improving the life
quality in rural areas.

2. Studies about rural areas are essential to the innovations of the villages.

Supporting details:

1. Adaptability. Every area has a different geographical condition. Therefore,

researcher must consider the effectiveness of the solution in certain areas.
 2. Approachability. The village won’t be able to adapt to such a complex new
solution offered. Seeing this, the researcher must give them approachable
ways.

Conclusion: With the proper transformation of the village. They should be able to create a
better place to live

Summary:

According to an article titled “The Village of the Future – A Cure for Urban
Overpopulation”, many rural farmers in Asia are seeking employment by migrating to already
overcrowded cities. It seemed almost impossible for them to earn a living, and they had no
savings to meet their basic needs. Because of this, researchers are working to find technologies
that can help the villagers. There are so many technologies that are being developed such as
biogas digesters, a technology that can produce cooking gas from human or animal waste, low-
cost hand pumps and water filtration technology in order to improve the accessibility of water
for the villagers, and many more. With these new inventions, the village could be a far better
place to live in and the urban overpopulation problem will be solved.