Nairobi, Kenya: In the fight against food waste, farmers in rural Kenya are increasingly turning to mobile, solar-powered cold stores.
Companies like SokoFresh, for example, can supply pay-as-you-go storage units to small volume farmers who grow fruit and vegetables such as avocados, mangos and French beans.
About 90% of Kenya’s agricultural produce is understood to come from smallholders, who do not have the kind of cold storage solutions available to large-scale producers. This means lots of produce perishes in outside temperatures after being harvested.
“More than 30% of all food produced in the world for human consumption gets lost or wasted”, said SokoFresh. “Food loss in Africa occurs almost entirely in the production and distribution stages.”
Farmers using the model can earn up to 50% more on their harvest, while buyers receive more and better quality produce.
The cost of logistics is also reduced, because trucks are picking up full loads that have been stored in the cold storage units by multiple farmers.
