If you search the blog you will see that drying is the frequent subject of posts. This is because it is an effective and simple preservation technology that can (depending on the process used) be implemented with little or no capital investment.
Given the dual problem of food shortages and soaring energy costs, it seems that now would be a good time for extension and project officers to be focussing on sun and solar drying. I am thinking of preparing a post and webpage that will try and present a practical linked decision tree for sun and solar drying.
In the mean time this article on the FAO website is extremely useful.
The article has its origins in work done in Uganda on a simple cabinet dryer. This first article in a series focuses on the approach an entrepreneur would take to evaluate the potential of entering the dried fruit business.
Detailed costs and calculations are supplied. These need to be adjusted for the entrepreneurs local conditions and costs especially as this new summary document is undated and the original work was done in the 70s. However, the process outlined, checklists and calculation methods are all very useful.
The article supplies sufficient technical information to be able to do the evaluation but not enough to build a dryer and start drying. This is the subject of additional articles.
The information provided and the people involved are linked to the export of dried pineapple, mango and banana to Europe which was very successfully introduced on a large scale in Uganda. An interesting warning in the article is that the local selling price is normally 2 to 6 times lower than the export price.
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