The Problem
Colossal post-harvest losses of fresh farm produce
remain a daunting challenge to farmers in Nigeria due to inadequate storage and
processing facilities. Every cropping season, farmers in Nigeria labour to
produce various food items in large quantities but majority of these food items
are lost due to inadequate storage and processing facilities and this also result
in huge fortune losses to the farmers.
Wastage of agricultural produce at farm gate and losses
in the market places especially fruit and vegetables is a recurring challenge Nigerian
peasant and mechanised farmers have been battling with. In fact, Nigeria loses
about 40-60 per cent of farm produce annually to lack of storage and
agro-processing facilities.
According to FAO Report, roughly one third of the food produced in the
world for human consumption every year — approximately 1.3 billion tonnes —
gets lost or wasted.
For non-perishable crops, wastage is as high as 40-45
percent. In the Agriculture Promotion Policy document (2016 – 2020), the
Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development stated that Nigeria’s
current post-harvest loss rates of perishable crops is up to 60 per cent.
The Solution
A controlled atmosphere is an agricultural storage method in which the concentrations of oxygen, carbon
dioxide and nitrogen, as well as the temperature and humidity of a storage room are regulated. Both dry commodities and fresh fruit
and vegetables can be stored in controlled atmospheres. All crops have a 'critical temperature' below which
undesirable and irreversible reactions or takes place. The storage temperature
always has to be above this critical temperature.
Types of Controlled
Atmosphere
Food Cooling System.
When fruits and vegetables
are cut off from the plant, they start to dehydrate causing them to rot. Fruits and
Vegetables therefore need immediate pre-cooling after harvest to prevent dehydration.
Pre-cooling is provided to fruits and vegetables
before their long term cold storage. Pre-Cooling helps in increasing the
efficiency and functional life of the products during the storage life of the
product in long term cold storage. This help
to increases shelf-life of produce/commodity.
Control Atmosphere Cold Storage.
Control Atmosphere
cold storage is used for long-term storage of perishable fruits.
In this type of
cold storage, apart from temperature concentration of oxygen, carbon dioxide,
ethylene and nitrogen is maintained as per the requirement of the storage material.
Post-harvest fruits and vegetables are still living products which continue to
respire – breath O2 and release CO2, water & energy and, at the same time
consume energy. Altering and modifying the atmospheric composition in storage chambers
within the specified range is called controlled atmospheric storage of fruits
and vegetables.
Reduced level of
the O2 and increased level of CO2 brings a considerable decrease in respiration.
The temperature and humidity in this storage are maintained as per the
requirement of individual fruit and vegetable. This helps in increasing the
storage life of fresh fruits and vegetables by slowing down the aging process
thereby extending storage life .
Controlled atmosphere storage is the best
solution for both fresh fruits and vegetables.
Temperature Controlled Cold Storage
This type of cold
storage is mainly used for storage of grains, dry fruits and spice. In this
type of storage, constant pre-determine temperature is maintained throughout
the room.
High Humidity Cold Storage
This type of cold
storage is mainly used for storage of fresh vegetables. In this type of
storage, constant pre-determine temperature with high humidity is maintained
throughout the room. This type of storage provide total storage solutions for
roots vegetables like onions, garlics, carrots, process potatoes etc. in this
type of storage apart from temperature humidity, carbon dioxide air
circulations within the products is maintain automatically at pre define level.
In Nigeria, there is no investment in controlled
atmosphere warehouse because it is highly capital intensive and there are challenges
of erratic power supply. To ensure a greater part of the country’s farm yield
does not get wasted, a Nigerian company, Cold Hub company has developed a solar-powered
food storage design, Cold Hub, to empower farmers of small, medium and large
scale farmers.
This solar powered cold
storage can be used for short term storage of fruits and vegetables in Nigeria.
ColdHubs, is a
“plug and play” modular, solar-powered walk-in cold room, for 24/7 off-grid
storage and preservation of perishable foods. It adequately addresses the
problem of post- harvest losses in fruits, vegetables and other perishable food
by extending the freshness of fruits, vegetables and other perishable food from
2 days to about 21 days.
Co-operatives of farmers interested in the coldhub storage should contact Coldhub located at 1, Umugakwo-Umuoba
Road, Off MCC-Uratta Road, Owerri, Imo State. Email:info@coldhubs.com, nnaemeka@coldhubs.com
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