A horticultural farmer. [Photo|seattletimes.com]
At least 500 smallholder farmers in three counties in Lower Eastern are assured of steady sales for their horticultural produce.
The good news for the farmers in Tharaka Nithi, Meru and Embu follow the introduction of an automated air drier to save their harvest from post-harvest losses.
The drier, that has been funded by the USAID through the Kenya Value Chains Enterprises (Kaves) project, has a capacity of drying 300kgs of fresh produce daily and complements the company’s solar dryers that cumulatively handle 1,200kgs.
The machine will also shield them from market glut and post-harvest related losses that account for up to 40 percent of all fresh produce losses.
“With post-harvest losses accounting for about 40 percent of all losses, the focus should be on how to tame these losses rather than on having new produce varieties. Reducing these losses through value addition has proven that we can improve the productivity of our farmers while developing competitive value chains,” said Kaves chief of party, Dr Steve New.
The country incurs post-harvest losses to the tune of more than Sh50 billion every year, a new report has revealed. The loss, representing 60 percent of food harvested, is incurred due to poor logistics between the farm and the collection points.
A report entitled From Farm to Market by Kenya Network for Dissemination of Agricultural Technologies and other global partners says the bulk of horticulture growers also suffer 40 percent of loss in production. Sweet ‘N Dried Enterprises, a company in Tharaka Nithi county, is the manufacturer of the drier.
“We have been on a seven-year journey that has been marked by numerous trials and errors. Ultimately, the markets have warmed up to our dried mangoes, bananas and vegetables,” said the founder of Sweet ‘N Dried Enterprises Mercy Mwende.