Young innovators in the agriculture field from various African countries have called on their governments to support their innovations if they are to help weed out hunger and poverty on the continent.
Speaking during an innovation’s expo at Jomo Kenyatta University of Science and Technology (Jkuat) Wednesday, the innovators expressed their frustrations that their innovations that could have been vital in ending hunger end up on the shelves due to lack of support.
Led by Kate Sagoe from Ghana and John Olouch, they said embracing new innovations to boost agricultural production could end perennial hunger that has been biting the continent.
Sagoe, the lead researcher on ending post-harvest losses of fresh farm products in the retail chain said farmers and retailers suffer huge losses due to poor storage of their produce, which can be addressed through their innovation.
Sagoe, alongside other students from Malawi and Zambia have developed a box, the Zero Technologies Box that has a refrigeration and sensor system where the produce mostly tomatoes and vegetables are put.
Local retailers can estimate the lifetime of their products remotely or in person with the help of an application in the sensor system.
She says it helps reduce losses by 70 per cent while boosting up their profits. It is more appropriate in the rural areas where the products can take long before they are sold.
“We realised that post-harvest losses are a problem which prohibits efforts to achieve food security and sustainable development goals. The box is one of the major interventions required to tackle the post-harvest losses at the retail level,” she said.
She said the country with about 350,000 people that deal in fresh farm business; the box, which can be powered using electricity or solar power, would come in handy.
“Our target is mostly tomato or vegetable sellers. Instead of letting their produce rot in the shops due to poor storage facilities, the box, which can store several kilograms of the produce, will save them from the losses,” she said.
Oluoch, a Jomo Kenyatta University of Science and Technology (Jkuat) student has come up with a bactericide that prevents bacterial wilt in potatoes.
The PhD holder in Molecular Science says if supported to produce the product in large quantities; it would help boost potato farming on the continent.
“During a meeting of African potato farmers that I had attended in Malawi some months back, there was a discussion on this disease and concerns were raised on why there has not been a solution to this. We have now provided the solution,” he said.
His innovation has been tested on various potato growing areas in the country and the results have been impressive.
The technology involves dissolving small quantities of the bactericide in water and drenching it on the potatoes after they sprout. After some time, the compound breaks into the soil thus dealing with the pathogen, preventing the bacteria from infecting the plant.
He said across the continent, the bacterium has no cure and farmers use cultural methods like uprooting the affected plant and crop rotation.
The two researchers are among several others whose hope is on partnerships to scale up their production to provide an impact to farmers.
“We are looking for support and partnerships from companies and agricultural agencies so that we can scale up production. We hope the products will be affordable in the market,” said Oluoch.
Mercy Wambui, the Centre Community and Communication Manager, Pan African University (PAUSTI) Incubation centre of excellence that supports innovators in the agriculture field, said such innovations would be helpful in curbing hunger if supported.
“Food security is a pillar that most governments want to achieve. It can be made possible if such innovations are actualised through scaling up production of these products. It will need funding and linkages. Their innovations have shown that they can help eliminate poverty on the continent,” said Wambui.
