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Fruit drying centres open for business
As part of MATF’s Fresh Fruit Processing Project, fruit drying centres opened for business last month and are now fully operational in three districts in West Kenya.
Small-scale fruit farming is a key economic activity in West Kenya. However, it is estimated that over 60% of all the fruit produced in West Kenya perishes, as farmers cannot readily access the fresh fruit market.
The Fresh Fruit Processing Project aims to directly improve the livelihoods of 600 local fresh fruit farmers located in the Busia, Homa Bay and Vihiga Districts by establishing fruit drying centres where they can dry their fruits to sell at good prices to supermarkets in cities. This simple solar-drier technology will help small-scale farmers to process their fruits and guarantee a market that will pay cash-on-delivery. Currently, there is a high demand for dried fresh-fruits in the local supermarket chains in Nairobi and other major towns.
The 600 farmers involved in the project will also take part in field days and local exchanges where they will pass on the fruit drying and marketing skills they have learnt to other farmers. As a result, the project will impact an additional 2,400 other farmers in West Kenya.
The fresh fruits currently being processed are bananas (in Busia and Vihiga districts) and pineapples (in Homa Bay district). These fruits are locally available and there is plenty of sun to facilitate the drying process.
Helen is a 35 year old pineapple farmer who lives with her husband and four children in Homa Bay. Prior to her involvement with FARM-Africa Helen farmed a ¼ of an acre of pineapple but she did not earn enough income to provide for her family.
Helen has already received training from FARM-Africa in planting and maintaining her pineapple crops as well as pest management techniques. The establishment of the fruit drying centre means Helen can now dry some of her pineapples. The improved access to markets means that she will be able to supply the dried fruit to larger supermarkets, greatly increasing her income.
“Thanks to the fresh fruit project I’m now able to meet most of my domestic needs and pay my children’s school fees” Helen
Comments
as an opinion leader in homabay, this no doubt is a commendable initiative as it gives our people much needed sustainable economic empowerment
Im happy to hear this im a kenyan working in N.West Tanzania with a similar German based project of drying pineapples bananas and other fruits organically certified by IMO which exports in europe and it is a great business.Keep it up
I am happy tha the fruit drying business has picked up. I am one of the founders of this technology. I rember, when I first introduced fruit and vegetable drying in Karagwe, NW Tanzania, most of the people who came across me, refered to me as "mad person" and actually thought that I was mentally ill. No one had ever imagined that, the sun's energy that was used allover to dry crops like coffee beans, maize, etc would also used to desicate fruits and vegetables to keep for long.. and to open up avenues for employment, income generation and food security. Now I am happy the technology has diffused allover east africa.
This is a wonderful project with aim of alleviating poverty in Africa and food security sustainability in semi-arid regions of Africa. Project manager SMILE AFRICA DEV. ORGANIZATION KENYA
Congratulations to all who have made this a reality. As a packaging expert in this area, I would be glad to play a role in giving packaging advisory services so as to maximize on Africa's export potential. Keep up the good work.
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