How can I use indigenous materials to insulate homes in a rural Pakistani village?

We certainly hope we can help out with your important and challenging work. Thank you for the education on the dhajji construction technique, as well. It looks to be a good way to add strength with minimal resource use.

As far as the villagers' concerns, they are valid and insightful. I believe this is a language barrier issue, but the sawdust and pine leaves will adsorb moisture, rather than create it, simply because the polyethylene sheet does not let moisture pass through the wall assembly. This can be fixed by perforating the sheet extensively, though that may not convince the villagers. Since you likely do not have access to house wrap in the region, a wire mesh screen, cheesecloth or some type of netting would be good alternatives that would do the job while addressing their concerns.

I don’t know the insulation values of sawdust or pine needles, but there are some other natural materials for which the insulation values are known and which may be better from a perspective of being less attractive to termites. It seems that there is a lot of rice produced in the area. Rice hulls have an insulation value greater than R-3 per inch, and they are also fire- and mold-resistant. Rice straw is another option, as well as other straw such as wheat and maize, which appear to be local crops. Straw has about an R-2.7-per-inch insulation value. Many people have the wrong impression that strawbale homes pose a fire hazard. Strawbales are actually packed very tightly and, if fire was ever able to access the straw, it wouldn’t get enough oxygen to burn. You will not be able to achieve the same density packing by hand, but should pack it as well as possible and fill all voids to eliminate pockets of air. Using a wire mesh versus cloth would help a lot in providing the strength to facilitate packing.

Other options for the insulation cavity that may be accessible in your area are wool, hemp or cotton. They all have an insulation value of R-3.5 per inch. These crops may be valuable export commodities, so you will have to evaluate the foregone revenue against the residents’ heating cost savings. Hopefully, it makes more sense to keep the products in the local economy and reduce the ongoing costs of living.

Also thinking about heating energy, consideration should be given, if it isn’t already, to orienting the homes for maximum sun exposure in the winter. The thermal mass of the dhajji wall lends itself to passive solar thermal heating. I can imagine that your astute villagers have been practicing this for centuries. It is generally more in our technology-driven society that we seem to have forgotten the advantages of leveraging our natural systems.

Finally, I am wondering if you have looked at timber frame, strawbale construction or what local obstacles might be in the way that would make it not attractive.

Hope you find these ideas productive in your admirable efforts.