July 1, 2020
Rwandan farmers were losing about 30 per cent of their carrot harvest due to lack of post-harvest handling techniques and storages are now recovering from the trauma of loss following the installation of the Zero Energy Cooling Chamber. The Zero Energy Cool Chamber is an alternative to a common refrigerator giving immense relief to the carrot growing farmers.
This is a simple on-farm storage chamber used as basic method to store fresh fruits, vegetables and flowers to extend their shelf life. As known, the shelf life and fresh of fruits and vegetables can be controlled by reducing the storage temperature that surrounds the product.
This simple technique of storage is being used by farmers in Nyabihu District. The technology relies on the simple thermodynamics of bricks, water, and sand to maintain carrots at cool temperatures and thereby extend their shelf life by up to many days.
Eric Mbanzabagabo, the President of the Cooperative “KOGIMUIN” that grows vegetables and fruits, said that by the installation of Zero Energy Cooling Chamber under the support of Hinga Weze project, the co-operative managed to avoid giveaway prices of the farm produce since the technique has enabled the co-operative to preserve the produce for a long-term period.
“Due to lack of post-harvest handling techniques, we had to sell all the produce at poor prices as a way of preventing carrots from rotting away when it was not possible to store them for a long period,” he said.
The cooling facility of Zero Energy Cooling Chamber can hold 300 crates of carrots, carrying 15 kilograms each.