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While the realities of post-harvest challenges remain a fork in the road for farmers across the country, a group of female market vendors in Kampala have been supported to ensure their fresh fruits and vegetables are preserved.
The system puts preservation at a week where the market vendors usually have to throw away their produce after two days.
Stationed at Ntinda Stretcher market with over 80 per cent women in the vegetable and fruit section, the system is solar-powered with a capacity of three tonnes and cools at 12 degrees.
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According to Geraldine Kyomuhangi, a market vendor at Ntinda new market, the system has so far been effective.
She said her clients prefer fresh vegetables and fruits. Before the cooling system was put in place, she said a lot of her merchandise would go to waste.
“We are happy for bringing us the fridge. I trust our merchandise will not go bad because we can re-stalk overnight. We shall now have fresh watermelons, pineapples, and broccoli, among others,” she said.
Call for more investment
She mentioned that the cooler is relatively smaller and asked the government to provide a bigger one.
“Women dealing in fruits are so many and that fridge is small. Let the government bring for us a bigger one,” she added.
The AWAN chairperson, Joyce Atuhaire said they were inspired to build the system after conducting a baseline in different markets in Kampala in which they found out that losses happen majorly at the market level and they are at 30 per cent.
Akilis Karungi, an official from GIZ, said this kind of technology should be stretched to areas without high-grid cooling systems. This initiative, he said, will empower more women.