The Courier

Ruth Sacks, Don’t panic, 2005. Video artwork, 4’ 54’’.

Courtesy Sindika Dokolo African collection of contemporary art

Using sunshine to dry fruits and vegetables, the solar dryer made in Kenya by his company, SCODE, not only saves energy but also improves food security, diet and has a big export potential, says its developer, Maina. All of this without harming the environment. Farmers increase yields without using additional water resources.

Founded by Austrian engineer and environmentalist, Wolfgang Neumann, a pioneer in energy saving, the awards have to date been given nine times at ceremonies held in a different city around the world. They go to mainly small-scale, low-priced projects that are making a careful and economical use of resources with the use of alternative energy sources. The dryer came out tops amongst 732 projects across 96 countries.

“It’s two minutes to midnight and we have to act,” stressed Hans-Gert Pottering, European Parliament President on the “environmental emergency” facing the world.

A star studded line-up of personalities known for their environmental commitment including US actor Martin Sheen; UK singer Robin Gibb; Indian environmentalist, Maneka Gandhi and Somali writer, Waris Dirie, handed over the prizes. There were three winners in five categories: Earth, Fire, Water, Air and Youth. Adding to a first prize in the Earth group, Maina was also the overall winner.

Simple design

The sides of his cabinet solar dryer are made of wood, the bottom from papyrus mat and the top of UV-treated polythene sheet. The papyrus mat is covered with a heat-absorbing material. The UV-treated polythene sheet allows the sun’s rays into the cabinet, creating a greenhouse effect in the dryer. Any produce for drying is loaded into the dryer using a tray made of wood and plastic net.

When harvests of fruit and vegetables are plenty during the 3–4 month rainy season, surplus with a high moisture content like pineapples, mangoes, tomatoes, cabbage, paw-paw, banana and cassava, which would otherwise be wasted, can be dried and put on the local market during the hot, dry season when yields are low.

Says Maina: “Kenyans do not have a tradition of eating dried fruits and/or vegetables. However, the project has successfully encouraged an increasing number of families to include dried vegetables and fruits in their diets.”

The simple construction is cheap and easy to make, operate and maintain. It costs just 3,000 Kenyan shillings (ksh) or €31.25. A commercial version – a tunnel dryer – is sold at ksh15,500 (or €161.50). It contains 6 trays and takes higher loads, for example, drying up to 18–20 kg of freshly sliced pineapples at once.

Maina now wants to export the dryer: “Due to lack of resources to market the technology, we’ve not been able to market it to other parts of Kenya. We’re looking for financiers to assist us in marketing the dryers more widely in Kenya and the East Africa region. Currently we’ve not sold any dryer outside of Kenya because people outside the pilot areas do not know about the dryers.”

He’s also looking for partners to market the Kenyan-grown fruit and vegetables, keen on tapping into the ever-growing EU market for organic produce: “When I was in Brussels for the Energy Globe award ceremony, I met with people interested in dried fruits to make eco-chocolate in Europe. We’re following these contacts seriously with a view to exporting dried fruits to such companies wherever they may be.”

Email: scode@africaonline.co.ke

Website: www.energyglobe.info