In a lede - up to announce this yr ’s Global LEAP Off - Grid Cold Chain Challenge ( OGCCC ) finalists , a team from Efficiency for Access chitchat two Kenya - based field testing participants . The first visit was to a family - have agribusiness situated in Thika , a bustle agricultural and industrial town about an hour ’s drive from Nairobi . The squad was eager to have a first - hand panorama of the Solar Cooling Engineering moth-eaten elbow room in use and con more about the proprietor ’s experience .
On arrival in Thika town , we get about 20 second into a luxuriant residential estate where Kamau Mbarire and his married woman , Jane , warm welcomed us . The brace conjointly runs a profitable and growing herbaceous plant - for - export business organization , Jungle Harvest Limited , with Jane more actively involve in the solar day - to - 24-hour interval operation .
As the team explored the 0.75 estate of land under cultivation , Jane told us of her family ’s nearly two - decade - long journey of prove their now - expand business . Since invade the prop , Jane ’s household has tried their helping hand in various ventures , include dairy farm , copper , and fowl farming and producing bananas , avocadoes , vegetable , and strawberry mark . Of the initial pursuits , strawberries had been the most successful . Unfortunately , the succeeder of the hemangioma simplex was short - lived — with wild monkey in the region stealing the advanced strawberries before she could foregather them for sale . dissuade but not vote down , Jane erected a greenhouse where she would set the strawberries away from the nervy thieves . However , this solution did not last , as the strawberry were not flourish under the canopy of the greenhouse . She also notice that the quality of the fruit did not match former harvests when the strawberry were planted under lineal sun . This led to her exploring herbaceous plant grow in 2018 , which has proven less susceptible to the hindrance of the monkeys . The menage now grows several herb , include St. Basil , coriander , Anethum graveolens , mint , rosemary , sage , tarragon , and thyme .
Before buy the dusty room , they had to hire refrigerated trucks to keep their green groceries impertinent for transport . This was not a sustainable coming for them . It imply their doer spend long hours during harvest days to ensure all order were sorted and packed in time for the scheduled pick - up and deliverance . It was also costly , with daily truck take average out USD $ 60–77 . Now , with the cold room , Jane can store over 1000 kilograms of herbs for up to a week and take more time to sort and pack the Cartesian product for transport to the airport .
Jane and Kamau are no strangers to solar . They have been using a SunCulture solar piss pump to irrigate their crops since 2015 . “ With solar , we are good to go anytime , ” Jane observe .
Since acquiring the frigid room , Jane and Kamau ’s herbaceous plant capacity has grow from about 50–80 kilo to over 300 kgs , nearly doubling their income from the farm . With their increased yield , they now supply high - value export clients with larger purchase order instead of local client who make pocket-sized orders bring in lower return . The family also take account that the exact temperature control of the cold elbow room enables herb preservation in optimum conditions , foregather the high-pitched export tone measure .
Not only has the cold way benefit Jane and Kamau ’s bottom line , but it has also enable them to empower their local biotic community . Jane cite that , aside from Dan , the farm manager , she favor to employ untried unmarried mothers on the farm . In this way , new mothers can earn an income to support themselves and their small fry . Additionally , Jane distributes fresh veg to neighboring menage which she purchases in bulk and computer storage in the moth-eaten room , generating some special income .
Jane and Kamau confirmed that the inhuman room had been a suitable investing and a means of further expanding their stage business . With the extra income brought about by the cold room , they are constructing a larger herbaceous plant propagation shed and plan to lease land from their neighbors , extending their farm by about an Akka . With these plans in place , they will acquire more herbs , take up larger orders and boom the commercial enterprise .
reservoir : climatechampions.unfccc.int
