SOCIAL DESIGN COLLABORATION

FOOD SECURITY IN

KENYA

Food security can be referred to as the state of having reliable

access to a sufficient quantity of affordable, nutritious food

SITE OF ANALYSIS

Club 36 off Mamlaka road

We visited the local vegetable vendors commonly referred to as ‘vibanda’

Research

ObservationInterviews

Findings

Vegetables mainly consumed in this neighborhood include tomatoes, onions, sukuma wiki and French beans since they are easy to prepare.

They acquire their supplies from larger retailers ,Muthurwa, Marikiti and Kawangware market.

Since their biggest consumers are students, consumption goes down during the holiday season, they then seek for alternative market or shift to another business idea temporarily.

Kales commonly referred to as sukuma wiki is the vegetable highly consumed during pick hours, they sell one sack while during off pick half a sack is sold.

Similarly, one crate of tomatoes are sold during pick hours while only a half during off pick.

Challenges.

Storage vegetables over a large period of time

High tax rate from the relevant authorities.

Insecurity, the loss their products through theft.

Lack of adequate water

Inadequate space

Solution.

Lack of proper and sufficient storage hinders supply of vegetables which are on demand

by the consumers; we therefore tried to evaluate different storage methods that can

improve the sales and reduce spoilage or waste.

Evaporative cooling systems.Charcoal cooler.Pot cooler.Bamboo cooler.

Bamboo trees are expensive and not easily obtained they are also limited to as small scale implementation.Pot coolers as well as are smaller hence limiting in storage size. They are also easily broken therefore it cant be the most efficient system to be implemented.

After evaluation charcoal cooler was the best option, its relatively cheaper than the above systems.

Evaporative cooling systems.

Charcoal cooling system

A charcoal cooler uses the principle of evaporative cooling to maintain a cool interior temperature for refrigeration and food preservation. The device is constructed from an open timber frame with charcoal filled sides, kept continually moist. As warm, dry air flows through the moist charcoal , water is evaporated into the air and the system is cooled.

Cont’

The basic principles of heat and mass transfer underlie the function of the charcoal cooler. Evaporative cooling can be used to address two main developmental needs ; space cooling (air conditioning) and refrigeration. The charcoal cooler addresses the need for refrigeration in areas where electricity is unavailable.

Refrigeration of food is a method of slowing bacteria growth and extending shelf life. Typical refrigerators are kept around 2-3 degrees Celsius and can extend the shelf of produce by weeks.

Modeling

Advantages of a charcoal cooler They are cheap to make and maintain

They require no electricity unlike fridges, therefore they can be used in areas without electricity.

With fresher and longer-lasting crops, farmers earn better prices for their products, directly translating to higher incomes.

The only known limitation of

charcoal coolers is that they are not

as effective in humid weather.

However a fan can be installed.

Comparative analysis in days

tom

atoe

s

guav

as

okra

carrot

s

0

5

10

15

20

without coolerwith cooler