Post-harvest and cooling facility in Lower Gweru to reduce food waste

Monalisa Chikwengo

More than 400 farmers from Insukamini, Mkoba, Mambanjeni and London irrigation schemes in Lower Gweru now have modern storage facilities after benefitting from the Government’s Smallholder Irrigation Revitalisation Programme (SIRP)’s post-harvest handling facility.

The post-harvest and cooling facility is meant to increase agricultural productivity and reduce food waste.

The facility has enabled farmers to better preserve their crops and reduce losses due to spoilage.

SIRP national project co-ordinator, Mr Odreck Mukorera said this investment was expected to enhance the quality of produce from Lower Gweru, contributing to food security and economic growth in the region.

“This project was motivated by the fact that cold storage facilities are a limiting factor to reaching certain export markets as well as growing high value horticultural crops such as peas, cucumbers, green peppers, to mention a few,” he said.

The farmers specialise in fresh produce such as maize meal, onions, tomatoes, potatoes and green vegetables which are all perishable.

“We needed to make sure that we facilitate farmer’s abilities to reach markets so that we try and drive these irrigation schemes towards commercialisation of the smallholder farmers across the country,” he said.

The cooling facility is equipped with a state-of-the-art walk in cold room with a capacity of close to 100 cubic metres of storage space.

“It is capable of cooling down a load of two tonnes of fruits and vegetables, from a temperature of 28 degrees Celsius to 4 degrees Celsius within 24 hours,” he said.

Post-harvest food loss has led to food insecurity for many households and also at national level in many countries.

“United Nations World Food Programme statistics show that despite the increase in global food production, a third of all food produce is lost or wasted,” said Mr Mukorera.

For the Sustainable Development Goals’ ambitious target to achieve zero hunger by 2030 to be a reality, there should not be food lost or wasted.