Customised Solar dryer for Perishables (CuSP)

About the project

UK-registered Partner: Brunel University – Dr Harjit Singh
Africa-registered Partner: Kijani Testing Limited – Kinya Kimathi

A market study was conducted to provide insights into the solar drying landscape in Kenya. 500 farmers, 50 financial institutions, 10 solar dryer suppliers and 10 government representatives were contacted for the survey.

A detailed report has resulted from this study. Additionally, a huge amount of computer modelling was conducted to identify the most cost effective, optimal, solar drier technology components.

From the market study, solar drying technology is still a new technology and its adoption is quite slow. Inhibiting factors include lack of awareness, lack of supporting government policies, high initial solar dryer costs and low end-user confidence due to inferior products in the market among others.

A solar drying workshop attended by over 30 stakeholders was convened to disseminate the outcomes of the study, where government representatives, private sector, product development, policy and academia were present.

Several linkages have been created through the project activities which we are planning to exploit to develop a consortium for future funding applications.