Numbers from the Food and Agriculture Organisation indicate that in sub-Saharan Africa, between 40 and 50 percent of produce goes to waste before reaching the consumer. This is largely due to a lack of viable cold chain solutions. There are options to solve this, but many of the technologies deployed to help store food and keep them in good condition before they reach the market are imported, meaning that they are not tailor-made to meet local challenges.
Tech company Sheffield Africa is trying to fill this gap through its innovative cold room solutions. The firm uses Polyurethane Foam (PUF) panels in assembling cold rooms’ insulation properties. This innovation, the firm says, helps in cutting energy costs for firms and farmers.
The firm, which has been focusing on food and beverage industry, has now ventured into agriculture to provide solutions to companies that harvest, store and transport perishable farm produce.
Sheffield says their two cold room facilities — a solar-powered one and the other, a low-cost (room air conditioner powered) one targeting the agribusiness industry — are first in the market in terms of new innovation. Standalone solar power, it is said, “is one of the best solutions for operating small cold storage in rural areas where there is a certain limit of power load”.
Source: nation.africa
Photo source: Sheffield Facility Solutions