A magic box that ripens bananas in 3 days.

Farming just like any venture comes with challenges which may mar your project if not properly addressed. This is very evident in harvesting to processing of agricultural products,many farmers record a lot of losses due to the perishable nature of their production. The handling,storage and preservation of most farm products is where major losses are incurred,thus farmers that dont have access to technology or methodology to preserve or store their products are exposed to risk and to cut their losses they sell at give away prices. Bananas are one of such products that must been handled with care if any profit is to be made because they start to ripen as soon as its cut from the plant and farmers use various methods to hasten the process. The farmers sometimes use chemicals to speed up the process thus exposing the consumers to health risks,while some other farmers put the bananas in bags and tie them up above a fire place,the disadvantage is that there is uneven ripening as all the bananas dont ripen at the same rate,the tendency of the bananas to rot and waste is very high with this technique. Majority of small scale farmers just spread them on a grassland and cover with leaves,this method exposes the bananas to pathogens which not only destroy the crop but also the risk of poisoning in man.This method of ripening also carries with it high rate of losses as the crops can be pilfered and also eaten by wild animals,thus creating another pathway of infection in man. The losses associated with post harvesting management of bananas has been solved with an innovative idea from of Stephen Simotwo, a final year Agricultural Engineering student at Kaiboi Technical Training Institute in Nandi County. The Banana Ripening Box uses a simple technology that modifies conditions for ripening of the fruit in a safe and fast way. The magic box is simple ,easy to use and cost effective as it does not use electricity, the box works on the science of organic ripening. The magic box works on the knowledge of ripening crops naturally,Stephen Simotwo found out that ripening can be stimulated with ethylene gas and he sourced for natural stores of ethylene gas.He discovered that passion fruit has a high concentration of ethylene gas,so he mixed unripe bananas and ripe passion fruit to ripen the bananas and it was a success. This is how the magic box is a wooden box(size will depend on capacity) divided into compartments internally and lined with transparent polythene bags; 1) put the unripe bananas in the box,with the ripe passion fruit in the ratio of 300 bananas to one kilo of passion fruits and close the box tightly(air tight)for 24 hours. 2)open the box for 5 minutes to allow carbon dioxide exit,the bananas begin to ripen now. 3) close the box again for 12 hours to continue the ripening. 4)open again for 5 minutes for escape of carbon dioxide. 5)Close box again and open finally at 72 hours,the bananas will have ripened completely. When passion fruit is not available,tomatoes,pineapple,pawpaw and avocado pears can also be used. Order for box