Almost 90% of smallholder farmers in Ghana sell their produce at the farm gate, mostly because finding ways to store freshly harvested fruit and vegetables is a big problem for smallholder farmers in West Africa. But now, a company called AkoFresh is providing solar-powered refrigerated storage that it says extends the shelf life of perishable crops from about 5 days to 21 days.
Farmers can rent a space in the cold store for a daily fee of $0.30 per 20 kilogram crate of produce, or take up a weekly subscription. They can also pay for the cold storage with crops instead of cash.
The solar powered cold storage service also includes a mobile app that connects the growers to food aggregators. These are organizations that consolidate and distribute agricultural products.
AkoFresh says it wants to halve the volume of crops lost after harvest across 10 communities in Ghana over the next 5-10 years, boosting seasonal income for farmers by more than $10 million, as well as reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 15%.
Source: weforum.org