Solar processing

This solution was shared by PRE-LAUNCH RESEARCH TEAM
14 May 2021

Description of the innovative solution

Nutritious foods are generally prone to microorganism growth, which can result in significant post-harvest losses across the supply chain and impact food quality and safety. Solar processing, specifically solar drying, offers an environmentally sustainable and cost-effecient method of processing and preserving nutritious, highly perishable foods such as vegetables, fruits, fish and meats. Solar drying may be especially advantageous in areas where distribution infrastructure and cold chain is limited. Solar drying equipment uses the thermal energy of the sun and allows for management of...

Nutritious foods are generally prone to microorganism growth, which can result in significant post-harvest losses across the supply chain and impact food quality and safety. Solar processing, specifically solar drying, offers an environmentally sustainable and cost-effecient method of processing and preserving nutritious, highly perishable foods such as vegetables, fruits, fish and meats. Solar drying may be especially advantageous in areas where distribution infrastructure and cold chain is limited. Solar drying equipment uses the thermal energy of the sun and allows for management of moisture content, air temperature, humidity and airflow which helps to preserve the flavor, texture and color of the food. The equipment varies in complexity and capacity, allowing both small-scale and industrial processors to acquire and operate the technologies. Solar drying can remove up to 80% of moisture content, preventing growth of microorganisms and thereby extending shelf life and avoiding contaminants. Solar dried foods may be of high quality and can add value for surplus crops that would otherwise have gone to waste.

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Examples and additional resources

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Solar-Hybrid Drying System
Solar-Hybrid Drying System
Solar-Hybrid Drying System
Business information

UpFood provides sustainable solar-hybrid drying technology for farmers to upcycle unsaleable harvest into high-quality dehydrated products.

Denmark Pakistan
Shared by PRE-LAUNCH RESEARCH TEAM
Sustainable Future Africa's Solar Dryer Tent
Project information

Sustainable Future Africa's Solar Dryer Tent is a cost-effective, easy to build tent constructed to dry produce and is suitable for rural areas of Nigeria where subsistence farming is highly concentrated.

Nigeria
Shared by PRE-LAUNCH RESEARCH TEAM
Sweet & Dried
Business information

Sweet & Dried is a young-female led agro-processing enterprise that specializes in processing of fruits, vegetables, and grains into dried products and assorted flours.

Kenya
Shared by IFSS Portal Research Team
S4S India
Business information

Combining solar-powered dehydration tech with micro-entrepreneurship to transform social and supply chain inefficiencies in developing countries.

India
Shared by IFSS portal research team
Aqua-Hub Kenya
Business information

Aqua-Hub Kenya is a designer and installer of natural solar dryers. Our solar dryers are offered to commercial farmers in the region who sell dried goods to foreign markets and local retail outlets.

Kenya
Shared by Glocolearning

Additional resources

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Solar dryers for agricultural products in Asia and Africa: An innovation landscape approach
Scientific paper
This review paper presents the different types of solar dryers that are widely used in Africa and Asia. The effects of their use on product quality, as well as their economic, environmental, and social impacts, are highlighted.
Shared by PRE-LAUNCH RESEARCH TEAM

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Increases the availability of nutritious, highly perishable foods for smallholder families and poor consumers.
Solar processing
Ethiopia

High quality solar dryers are accessible, mass produced and can be sold to individual rural low-income households, entrepreneurial individuals and groups for mid-scale production, and are a solution to large-scale production of dried foods reaching beyond the local communities and benefitting the growing urban populations.

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