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An image from a Uganda village where women were trained on solar dryers to lengthen shelf life of their produce and also learn practical ecosystem based farming techniques that can withstand adverse climatic changes in the country and boost socioeconomic wellbeing of the community.

Solar food drying is one of the oldest farming methods linked to food preservation, but every year, millions of dollars’ worth of gross national product is lost through spoilage.Poor preservation methods, ignorance, limited finances to obtain post-harvest handling technologies, inaccessible transporting system during harvesting and this affects market accessibility. Solar drying technology of agro-produce enhance reduction of post-harvest losses in most developing countries. Therefore, solar dryers reduce moisture contents to a level that prevents deterioration within a period of time regarded as the safe storage period. The main objectives of this newsletter is to showcase the efficiency of solar dryer compared to open sun drying. The efficacy of solar dryers will be analyzed and it’s benefit to the community to reduce post-harvest losses.

T R A I N I N G O F I N N O V A T I V E V O L U N T E E R I S M A C T O R S F O R D R Y I N G C A S S A V A C H I P S U S I N G C L I M A T E A C T I O N S O L U T I O N S O F S O L A R D R Y E R S F A C I L I T A T E D B Y U N E P E B A F O S A

Climate ActionI S S U E 1 8 / A U G U S T 2 0 2 1 D I G E S T

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Solar food drying is one of the oldest farming methods linked to food preservation, but every year, millions of dollars’ worth of gross national product is lost through spoilage. Poor preservation methods, ignorance, limited finances to obtain post-harvest handling technologies, inaccessible transporting system during harvesting and this affects market accessibility .

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) estimates that food losses in sub-Saharan Africa add up to $4 billion annually. Furthermore, about 38 percent of total energy consumption in the global food system is utilized to produce food that is either lost or wasted However Post-harvest losses (PHL) have been identified as a crucial challenge to achieving food and nutrition security in sub-Saharan Africa and leading to financial losses to farmers. A solar dryer dehydrating technology of utilizing solar energy to heat solar dryer installed for farming community, this leads to reduction of food wastage of cassava and other agriculture produce and prolong shelf life of those commodities when dried, limits exposure to dust, foreign matters, flies and rodents. The solar dryer and open sun drying methods were used for

drying cassava to compare which technique is efficient. The dryer proved to be efficient and adapted by farmers compared to other method. The solar dryer managed to record 8.5% moisture content in period of one and half hours. This is better than the 12% moisture content threshold needed to prevent growth of mold, aflatoxins, and yeast.

A digital grain moisture meter enabled to take measures during the process, and data picked was recorded on the data collection sheets to enable recording of data sets. This work was conducted by women supported by UNEP-EBAFOSA, their group known as Sugu Agalyawamu Village saving and loan association, it is a female led group which co-operate around the solution of climate action enterprises of communal solar dryers. For decades the group has been engaged in subsistence agriculture and family farming crop mostly grown include cassava, vegetables, where group members have suffered from post-harvest losses where by their cassava is left to rot in the garden due to lack of markets and technology to add value on it. The farmers experience losses from their produce since after harvest they are unable to store longer.

TRAINING OF INNOVATIVE VOLUNTEERISM ACTORS IN UGANDA FOR DRYING CASSAVA CHIPS USING SOLAR DRYERS FACILITATED BY UNEP/EBAFOSA

Richard MunangRegional Climate Change Coordinator

UNEP, Africa Office -Editor of the Climate Action Digest (CAD)

On going training where women from five districts were assembled and trained on how to check the moisture level of dried cassava chips using a special measuring tool. The train-ing was conducted by Uganda EBAFOSA officials.

Solar dried cassava was observed to have less than

12% moisture content in cassa-va recommended by Uganda Na-tional Bureau of Standards

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Case in point, before this village savings and loans association received communal solar dryer, they have been losing as follows: a full bag of 100 kilograms of Africa Egg plants has been ranging from 2.85 USD to 5.72 USD during a bumper season and this normally happens during March, April to May rainy season which normally is Uganda’s main rainfall season and since over 95% of farmers in Uganda depend on rainfall, a group of the farmers in the area usually wait for the rains to supplement their agriculture. Cassava sells for a full bag of 100kiligrams at 17.14 USD.

Most times middle men (traders) don’t buy small and damaged cassava roots, this affects the farmers and they end up feeding the remains to animals or others leave it to decay in the gardens. It was against this backdrop that UNEP-EBAFOSA Uganda came out to support the group with communal solar dryer to reduce those post-harvest losses and provide PHL training to enable the increase of shelf life of cassava and vegetables. In addition, drying allows safe storage of cassava chips over a long period by reducing the biological degradation rate of raw cassava chips. It also results in a considerable reduction in weight and volume, which helps minimize packaging, storage and transportation costs.

How the solar dryer works?

Drying needs moisture to be removed from the product being dehydrated. In thermal drying, this is achieved by utilising heat to the product. When heat is applied, the vapour pressure of the moisture within the product is raised above that of the air surrounding it. Pressure and thermal gradients stimulate the moisture (liquid and vapor) to move towards the surface of the product. Evaporation takes place and water vapor is convected to the surrounding air. Solar drying uses the sun as the heat source. Ventilation speeds up the drying time and reduce the risks of food spoilage and mold growth. Polyethylene is the most used material for covering solar dryers.

The study was conducted in Buikwe district, Sugu village under Sugu Agalyaawamu Women Group in central Uganda, Buganda Kingdom. Agriculture is the major economic activity in Buikwe district.

Trainers from Innovative Volunteerism Uganda program showing a reading that was collected from dried cassava chips that was going to be used to demonstrate how to effectively know the right moisture content expected from solar dryers.

Uganda EBAFOSA women members standing next to a mechanical solar dryer monitoring the progress of drying of cassava chips during the solar training initiative.

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An image of trainees group of ecosystem based adaptation training sieving cassava in a solar dryer, the training was used to train and drive adoption of the use of mechanical solar dryers to increase shelf life of cassava chips so that they can fetch better market value.

The results shows that drying rate in the solar dryer was also found to be higher than traditional open sun dryings of cassava, this explains that high temperature enables samples to dry faster. On the second day the solar dryer registered the highest temperature of 52.3 and the same time open sun drying had 40.5 degrees centigrade. The efficiency of the solar dryer is seen on the rate of temperature it produces.

Advantages of solar drying.

• No foreign material like sand, stones in the dried samples.

• Reduced wastage of the agricultural product during drying

• Improved product quality, according to the study conducted cassava dried in the dryers was color white with no smell while open sun drying quality of products were compromised due rainfall conditions, attract of sand and animal waste.

• Reduced wastage of the agricultural product during drying

• Reduction in the drying time. For example, on the study we have conducted the solar dryer managed to dry cassava to 8.5% moisture content in one and half hours

• Potential product loss during open sun drying this happens when rain comes, the product has to be covered

or transferred to the house /store, sometimes the product is kept in the same store with animals and poultry,

• There is an incremental price the solar dried product can fetch in the market as compared to the open sun-dried product because the cassava dried in the drier remain in white color, no odor.

Interventions;

• Capacity building of farmers in agronomic practices; Cassava grows well in over 80% of Uganda’s arable land. Even though cassava is a durable crop in the farming system of Uganda. It has certain agronomic requirements and the crop must be managed with better storage means.

• Establishing post-harvest handling trainings to the VSLAs.Farmers were trained on how to add value to cassava and vegetables grown using natural based solutions of ecosystems-based adaptation approaches. This work conducted a feasibility study which that farmers harvest was decaying in the gardens.

• Gender mainstreaming to promote ecosystem based farming in the local communitites.

• Involving local communities: Adaptation measures can be more successful when the local population participates in both planning and implementation as a result of this training initiative.

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Impacts of UNEP EBAFOSA intervention in the Uganda solar training program

Access to solar dryers for preservation of produce. This work supported the local community with locally fabricated preservation facilities and best agronomic practices. Solar dryers were fabricated and set up in different zones to help facilitate drying of cassava chips and increase their shelf life.

Promotion of Climate Action Driven Agribusiness Enterprises; Cassava value chain with focus on production, processing/ value addition and production of high cassava flour for bakery usage. This work guided and trained farmers in EBA production of cassava to access communal climate action solution of solar dryer which facilitates the dehydration of cassava chips to moisture content of below 12% moisture content, and cut postharvest losses.

Ready market for the cassava chips; Access to market of cassava planted by the women groups using ecosystem-based adaptation approaches and dried using the solar dryers were able to be preserved long enough to reach various markets and districts.

Sustainability of EBA Practices in VSLAs; this work has enabled the 5 VSLAs centres to establish cassava multiplication gardens to benefit the group members since the introduction of better preservation methods of solar dryers to increase produce shelf life. VSLAs are to continue promoting this innovative logic even if EBAFOSA is not available.

Improved decision making by women to take up ecosystems-based adaptation approaches; decision-making in regards to production activities. Generally, women had low involvement in decision-making activities about taking up natural solutions of EBA- Approaches, production because of the local tradition that recognizes men as figureheads and principal decision maker in this logic.

Increase in the Village savings and Loans association capital and incomes from the income generating activities; the conduct of Co-operating around the solution of EBA-Cassava Garden in the communities and better the process of preservation has led to having their produce reach wider markets and bring more income.

Distribution of solar dryers fabrication technique to members of the VSLA and community, this work has managed to create a relationship in the community since farmers have come to the farm to learn about best preservation methods which are free from contamination and has proven to be more effective than the traditional drying method.

Preservation stations were established: cassava preservation stations were established in the VSLAs gardens to enable their members access better and clean preserved products for each member. Solar drying centres were established because

this method is more efficient than using traditional open drying methods. The traditional open sun drying has always been practiced on a large scale in the rural areas of Uganda. Population suffers from high product losses due to inadequate drying, fungal growth, encroachment of insects, birds and rodents, etc. Properly designed solar dryers are now providing a much-needed appropriate alternative for drying of some of the agricultural products in rural agricultural communities.

Increased availability of solar dryers to improve best storage practises in the village and community, this work has enables dissemination of knowledge of fabricating solar dryers which offer increased shelf life and higher returns on produce since post harvest losses are avoided thus farmers are able to create more income.

Frame 1 is showing an EBAFOSA Uganda official trainer showcasing the moisture content reading.Frame 2 is showing women grating the cassava into chips to be taken for drying.

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Strengthening the institutional capacities for the delivery of climate action enterprises. Increase better health and welfare of our environment using ecosystem based adaptation approaches and awareness campaigns using various available channels. UNEP-EBAFOSA has enhanced capacity building of insitutions necessary to spearhead sustainable production and climate action enterprises in Uganda.

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