FOOD PRESERVATION : HOW TO PREVENT POST HARVEST LOSSES AND ENSURE FOOD SECURITY AND SAFETY.

  Nigerian entrepreneur offers solution to post harvest losses. As a vegetable farmer himself, Ikegwuonu has first-hand experience of the huge post-harvest losses incurred because of a lack of cold storage.

In Nigeria, it is estimated about 60% of smallholder farmers’ fruits and vegetables spoil due to inadequate storage and agro-processing facilities. This idea can be extended by having a mobile cooling truck,from farm to markets.

The post harvest losses can be curbed by using solar dryers   a form of preservation and also extend shelf-life of produce.

 These cold hubs can also come in handy in the meat industry. Butchers that have left over beef  use cold rooms, but introducing a solar store  will save cost and ensure the cold chain is maintained.
 

Preservation and processing is a bullet proof method to curb waste and extend shelf-life of produce.

 Thinking of investing in the agricultural sector? then think along these lines, cold hub chains, cooling trucks, vans. The profitability will  increase if this venture is mobile, trucks collecting from designated points for onward delivery to the cold box or store.

Ikegwuonu is addressing this challenge with Cold Hubs – a solar-powered walk-in cold-room solution aimed at farmers, retailers, and wholesalers.

The cold rooms are installed at major food production and consumption centers, such as markets and farms.

How to power your farm with Lumos light box.

How to power your farm with Lumos light box. Electricity is one of the largest expenses for poultry producers aside from feed cost and this is increasing thus alternative sources of lighting are explored.

Solar bulbs have been used on farms and also electricity generated from biogas,both of which have been successful. A recent study explored the use of LED bulbs and its potential to boost production and cutting electricity bills.

 Research has shown that light produced by LEDs have the ability to speed up plant growth and improve the taste of fruit and vegetables. A recent study by researchers in the United States are also proves that LED light is able to reduce disease in plants, a discovery that could, eliminate the use of pesticides.

 The lumos light box will provide 24 hrs light to power your farm at reduced cost. The advent of vertical farms,sun farms has pushed up the need to have light available for plants and animals to boost production.


The use of solar to power your bulbs can be a new way to increase productivity and yield. The use of the lumos box has the added advantage that you can actually determine your cost /time of project and also its cost implication is low as the service is highly discounted. Planting indoors? then the use of the box is to your advantage. Planting in the hydroponic setup with the lumos box takes a lot of stress off the farmer with better profit margin. Led lamps connected to the lumos box can be used in poultry or hydroponic setting.

 The lumos box is an initiative of MTN to provide 24 hrs electricity,but this can also be used on farms to produce cheaper electricity when needed.

The advantages of using the lumos box include 1) cheap and easy to install. 2)There is no noise or pollution. 3) safe and easy to maintain. LUMOS MOBILE ELECTRICITY POWERED BY MTN. 24/7 Electricity .

INNOVATION IN THE POULTRY INDUSTRY.

John Jewson, a poultry farmer in East Anglia, UK, has a farm surrounded by houses on three sides and has had to tread a careful line between running his business and keeping his neighbors happy. While the family farm has reared various species over its history, Jewson has found that poultry farming is now the answer. At Poplars Farm, near Wisbech in Cambridgeshire, Jewson has three sheds and approximately four acres, from which he runs a commercial pullet replacement operation, taking in free-range chicks and rearing them to point of lay. "It is a very niche operation,” said Jewson. “This is realistically the only kind of farming that can fit onto a site like this.”(urban farming). He has found modern improvements in farming methods have made running the farm easier. “It’s all automatic feed lines now. One great development in the last few years has been the increasing use of modules for moving the chickens round,” Jewson said. “That’s been an investment that has really paid off. It’s very welfare friendly for the chickens and makes life a lot easier for the catchers.” The most recent investment on the farm has been a solar power system, which cut his electricity bills by 50 percent. The 50 kilowatt ground-mounted system occupies a small parcel of land next to the chicken sheds and in daylight conditions turns the farm into a completely green operation with power left over to export to the grid. The panels were installed by EvoEnergy, one of the country’s largest solar power companies. “They are actually doing better than we expected, producing approximately 20 percent more electricity than anticipated,” said Jewson. “On a typical day, we are using approximately 12 kilowatts of power, and the panels are producing approximately 40 to 48 kilowatts.” Under the feed-in tariff scheme, designed to encourage businesses and homeowners to produce more green electricity, Jewson is paid for all of the electricity he produces, whether he uses it or not. He is also paid for exporting power to the national grid.see more “The scheme lasts for 25 years, and I often joke that this is my pension, because it will be generating money as well as electricity long after I’ve retired,” said Jewson. Jewson decided to go for a ground-mounted system rather than put the panels on the roofs of his sheds, because he was worried about adding extra loads onto the roofs. He also felt the dust from the ventilation system might settle on the panels.