Solar dryers, affordable for groups of farmers, are slashing drying times by 48 hours saving 36 per cent of after-harvest crop losses.
Marketed in East Africa by GrainPro, Solar Bubble Dryers dry grains, pulses, and vegetables even under rain in a protective bubble in just two to eight hours rather than the typical 54 hours it takes many crops to dry under the sun. The majority of Kenya’s farmers grow grains such as maize, pulses like beans, or horticulture crops like onions which need to be well-dried for farmers to get the most from their harvest.
Kenyan farmers lose 30-50 per cent of all their harvested crops. For maize farmers, 671,000 tonnes or 36 per cent of the grain they put in their stores yearly goes bad because there is little time between harvesting maize and the rains in March to May and October to December. The situation is even worse for farmers in areas that experience continuous rains throughout the year such as Western who lose 56 per cent of their grains after storage. With the bubble driers, farmers shave off 148 per cent of the drying time and even dry their grains in the rain saving most of their harvest
“We have used the portable Solar Bubble Dryer (SBD) to dry everything from sukuma wiki, onions, and maize when it is raining which had been a majour headache for us and it is working out great.
We pack and transport the drier and solar panels to farms that are near all the farmers in our Community-Based Organisation (CBO) and since it runs on solar and electricity and is completely independent of fuel it is very cheap to operate. Previously, about half of the maize we harvested went bad or was rejected by buyers because it was not well dried,” informed Ken Omusula, in Lugari, Kakamega County.
The mixed farmer is a member of the Nafaka Jasho CBO in Chekalini Ward, one of 88 cereal farming CBOs that received a solar bubble dryer through the Kenya Cereal Enhancement Programme – Climate Resilient Agricultural Livelihoods (KCEP-CRAL) to help them tackle the massive losses the county’s maize farmers incur in after-harvest losses.
According to Kakai Wekesa, Lugari Sub-County’s Agriculture Officer, the area is a majour maize-growing region in the country but farmers do not get to realise their full profits because up to half of the stored maize either completely goes bad or is of poor quality. “This is because the conditions that make this county great for agriculture also make it hard to dry maize well enough for storage. We receive rain throughout the year even during harvesting time and added to this Lugari is hot and humid which makes drying any cereals a major issue for farmers,” he said.
While the National Cereals and Produce Board as well as Kenya’s majour millers require that maize has a moisture level of under 13.5 per cent before storage, most of the maize stored at the farm level in Kenya has a moisture of 19 to 25 per cent which provides a perfect environment for aflatoxin causing moulds and insects to grow.
“With a drying rate of 0.5 per cent per hour, once the farmers put their maize in the dryer, it takes about two to eight hours for the maize to completely dry depending on the intensity of sunlight. This is 46 hours less than the time taken to sun-dry maize when there is perfect sunlight. Maize with a moisture content of 19 per cent can be dried to 12 per cent and this is tested using a moisture meter that comes with the dryer. At this temperature as long as it is stored in properly sealed bags, there is no risk of the maize being lost,” mentioned Wekesa.
According to Geoffrey Toung’ole, GrainPro’s Solar Bubble Dryer Sales Promoter, the dryer comes in two variants, the 500Kg capacity which retails for Sh230,000, and the 1,000Kg capacity which sells for Sh311,000. “This price might be unreachable for many smallholder farmers who are Kenya’s main agricultural producers and the people we are most looking to help with this device which can dry everything from rice, maize, beans, coffee, and vegetables, we often work with farmer groups,” explained Geoffrey.
Made by the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) and the University of Hohenheim (UOH), the solar bubble dryer is distributed through post-harvest handling and storage experts Grain Pro.
The portable dryer is inflated to a bubble that has a transparent top cover, that traps solar radiation in the drying chamber and heats up and dry grains. This is possible even during the rainy season because of its transparent LDPE polyethylene coating cover which is resistant to water. The dryer can be placed on a wet field because its floor is also watertight.
According to GrainPro Chief Strategy Officer Rose Ndung’u, the solar drier is not just ideal for farmers in Western Kenya but across the country. “Most maize harvesting in Kenya happens between September and October which means many times farmers have to contend with the start of short rains when harvesting. They can now harvest their cereals and toss them in the dryer to quickly dry with no worries on whether it is raining or not.”
Geoffrey Toung’ole, GrainPro:
geoffrey@grainpro.com
+254700568425
+254798622453