From Kenya to Minnesota: Advancing food sovereignty through sustainable value-addition

Value-Added Agriculture to Empower Smallholder Farmers

Smallholder farms, typically defined as those operating on fewer than two hectares of land, are essential to the global food system. They produce more than one-third of the world’s food, and as much as 80 percent in parts of Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. Despite their importance, smallholder farmers are often among the most vulnerable to environmental, social and economic pressures across the global food system.

Empowering smallholder farmers is essential to building a more environmentally sustainable, socially just, and economically equitable future. It is also a critical step toward achieving food sovereignty.

One promising pathway is value-added agriculture, in which agricultural products – like mango – undergo physical transformation or specialized production processes that increase their market value. This project explores one such strategy: decentralized hybrid greenhouse solar dryers. This project aims to explore greenhouse drying in Kenya and Minnesota as a sustainable pathway for cultivating local and resilient food systems that empower small producers.

Project Goals

• Computationally model the drying process to predict greenhouse dryer performance
• Experimentally evaluate greenhouse dryer performance during Kenyan mango season
• Conduct energy optimization for continuous drying and reduced energy consumption
• Evaluate the emerging trends within the dried produce market
• Publish three journal articles covering hybrid greenhouse solar dryers analytical model and validation; energy systems optimization; and the economic value chain for decentralized drying in Kenya
• Develop a public-facing report with operational recommendations; such as optimal control schemes and seminars for Kenya and Minnesota stakeholders