Innovators at the recently concluded All Africa Post Harvest Congress & Exhibition in Nairobi exuded confidence that affordable technologies are now available to reduce post-harvest losses.

From coolers, mobile dryers, mobile phone application solutions to aflatoxin testing kits and workshops, innovators said farmers now have various options to choose from to deal with post-harvest challenges.

However, the $500,000 grant award that Prof Ben Bennett — deputy director in charge of International trade and marketing economics at the Natural Resources Institute based at the University of Greenwich in the United Kingdom — received was the highlight of the exhibition.

Prof Bennett described a “built-in curing technology” for cassava preservation as the “most promising solution” because of its capability of cutting current 40 per cent post harvest losses by half.

The technology led over 50 innovations that were exhibited at the Safari Park Hotel in Nairobi where food experts and policymakers converged to find solutions to rampant food losses at several stages in value chains.

The technology, he said, will boost the crop’s growing global economic importance. Besides being a food crop, the starch extracted as a bi-product from cassava is sought after by many industries.

“This will help us to cut up to 50 per cent losses associated with cassava” Prof Bennett said.

“You recreate similar conditions as those in the soil, which cassava roots enjoy. You pull it out of the ground, harvest; sort out the bad ones; make a pile, make it moist, cover it, then leave it for two days to cure. Most root crops can be cured this way to extend their shelf life,” Prof Bennett added.

Cassava specialist at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture Richardson Okechukwu said there are many technologies out there that can increase refrigeration, but not many poor people can afford because the of lack of electricity.

“But this new technology will help us sort spoilage of millions of tons of cassava in Nigeria and other parts of Africa. When operational, it will be affordable to many,” Dr Okechukwu said.