AkoFresh

1. In Akomadan, a farming community in Ghana, tomato farmers lose 4,200 metric tonnes of produce annually as post-harvest losses which are dumped away in the environment. Therefore, post-harvest losses are a threat to the financial stability of the small-holder farmers, food security and environmental protection. The major reason behind such huge losses is the lack of cold storage infrastructure, poor quality seeds causing unsound agricultural practices and lack of timely access to markets.

2.  Our solution is triple-fold: a community storage facility combined with providing farmers’ education on sustainable farming practices and connecting farmers to markets. This a holistic solution to reduce post-harvest losses and our long-term aim is to develop the three segments as we grow.

3. If scaled globally, our solution would improve the livelihoods of small-holder farmers by buying them enough time to connect with viable buyers and get reasonable prices for their produce. 

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 1.3 billion tonnes of food is lost or wasted every year around the globe. To this effect, both developed and developing countries roughly lose an amount of 990 billion USD which is enough to feed about 124 million people starving in 51 countries (global food report, 2018). 

In Africa, tomato post-harvest losses range from 20-30%. Most importantly, food wastage’s carbon footprint is estimated to be 3.3 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent of greenhouse gasses, released into the atmosphere each year as a result of crop waste. 

In Akomadan, which is a farming community in Ghana, tomato farmers lose 4,200 metric tonnes of produce annually. As a result, present day post-harvest losses are a threat to the populace in terms of feeding and financial stability. Smallholder farmers have a hard time getting their excess produce to the market and they do not have sustainable storage facilities which causes the harvest to rot/decay. Thereby, contributing to food wastage. We can conclude that post-harvest loss is a threat to food security as well as environmental protection that cuts across most farming communities in Africa and around the globe. 

Our solution is a cold storage preservation technology comprising solar panels, sensors, a condensing unit and an evaporator with a temperature of 5-10 degree celsius. This cooling technology will extend the shelf life of tomato and other perishable crops for up to 21 days under a suitable regulated temperature.

The unit is a rectangular prism with a capacity of storing one hundred 25kg crates of tomatoes. The cold storage unit will run on solar panels during the day. The energy stored in the battery during the day will be used for night-time cooling.

For farmer's education, we are partnering with other organisations such as SukaSolar and Farmerline to develop educational and awareness programs on sustainable agricultural practices. 

As for connecting farmers to markets, we are getting assistance from an organisation called WellFed. But, our long-term aim is to develop a digital marketplace for the farmers so that they can directly connect with buyers, taking away middlemen from the equation who eat up a chunk of the farmer's profit. Currently, this part of the solution is still in the ideation stage.

Our target population is the tomato farming community in Ghana known as Akomadan. We will work with Akomadan as our first pilot community. It was once known to be the major tomato farming community in Ghana and now it faces huge losses due to the excessive spoilage of crops. The community is home to about 7000 farmers and they lose 1 million USD seasonally.  

Our solution will help reduce post harvest losses in Akomadan Community, in Ghana by 50% in the next two years and increase farmers’ total seasonal income by over 1million dollars with at least 2 community storage facilities.

From our field visits to Akomadan, we’ve received an abundance of positive feedback. The farmers are excited about the prospect of our solution and the community believes that this will bring a net positive to Akomadan. The chief and some community leaders believe in the project so much that they have offered us a land space to host our storage units.

Agricultural production has a large carbon footprint. Its processes impact soil and water quality and lead to deforestation. And post-harvest losses represent the many resources used in food production that are not actually consumed but cost a hefty damage to the ecosystem in the form of GHG emissions. Hotter temperatures, in turn, worsen the chances of quality agricultural production. All farmers in the tropics face this imminent risk and Africa is the most vulnerable continent to climate change. 

Our solution targets a vulnerable region with the help of renewable energy to improve agricultural practices to combat climate change.

Currently, we are in the process of manufacturing components for the cold storage system and arranging for the unit installation. We have cleared the land and the aim is to launch the service for testing between August-September this year.

The upfront costs of cooling units are high, meaning that smallholder farmers do not have the expendable income to purchase one for themselves. Our project aims to use a flexible payment system to allow local farmers to afford the service, and make an overall profit. After speaking to farmers in the community we decided on a price of 35 cents per 25kg crate per day stored in our units.

This price was fixed taking into consideration farmers’ opinions on our original proposed price as well as the selling price of 25kgs of tomatoes. A 25kg crate sells for around 35 dollars, meaning if the farmers store their produce with us for an average of 14 days they will save around 30$ from produce that would have otherwise been wasted. 

Further, we also increase the bargaining power of the smallholder farmers through our solar-powered storage system. It gives them more time to search for viable buyers which would lead to selling the produce for a better price. Buyers and middlemen know that if farmers do not sell their produce quickly, it may rot. So they use crop spoilage as a leverage for a lower price. AkoFresh wants to change this dynamic. So that both buyer and farmer are able to enter a mutually beneficial agreement.

Our project is unique because it is focussed on bringing a relatively expensive product to smallholder farmers, where such a product is desperately needed. 

We expect serve at least 100 farmers when we test our system in August 2021. 

In a year, we aim to serve about 7,000 farmers, covering one community.

In five years, we envision our solution to benefit more than 50,000 farmers in Ghana.

Founding team: 3 members

Manufacturing contractors: 2 members

Volunteers: 5 members

Advisory team: 5 members

Arina: (Finnish student studying plant science at the University of Cambridge, UK)

Arina has a keen interest in the science behind good agriculture and  currently she is a part of an urban agricultural collection, in the United Kingdom, with the aim to improve farming through methods such as vertical farming.

Her role involves studying crop season and quality, heading the farmer's education segment and assisting with administrative functions of our business.

Mathias: (Ghanaian student studying communications design at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology)

He is a product design expert and a social innovator. He has been a  part of various agricultural social projects in his community and recently completed a hydroponics project to help reduce malnutrition among school children in Bomso, a local community in Ghana. He is deeply motivated to work in a team of dedicated problem solvers to impact and transform lives positively.   

His role involves heading the field operations, product design and development, communications and branding.

Dhruvika: (Indian student majoring in Environment & Sustainable Development Studies at the OP Jindal Global University)

Through my current studies, I have conducted a comprehensive study on food systems and I understand the existing challenges in the agribusiness industry from a sustainable point of view. I have a specialisation in Environmental Management focusing on the water-energy-food nexus. Additionally, I have expertise in Digital Marketing.

My role involves heading strategy and business development from an environmentally sustainable perspective. Also, I am heading the digital marketplace aspect of the solution.

Our founding team includes three students studying science, design and humanities. Each of us represents a different nationality and ethnicity but our commonality is our vision to do good for the environment and for the people who find themselves in a vulnerable position.

One of the reasons for applying to Solve, is to secure additional funding for our venture so that we can set up more units in the community centre.

Also, we need guidance with the legalities of forming a business and other resources for product development, business strategy and team development.

Our founding team is headed by two talented girls and our vision for the venture is to provide local women with training for solar power management to make them efficient in managing the centres even in our absence. We aim to provide women safe employment and education. The funds will be utilised to set up community storage centres in other communities in the region; thereby, create meaningful impact in the lives of more underprivileged women.

Our solution has been engineered to help small-holder farming communities reduce GHG emissions by preventing post-harvest losses through solar power. This is a substantive step towards decarbonisation in the community. The funds will be utilised to set up community storage centres in other communities in the region.

Our solution has been engineered to help small-holder farming communities become financially stable and environmentally resilient. The funds will be utilised to set up community storage centres in other communities in the region.