Agricultural Solar Dryers in Kenya

Aqua Hub Agricultural Solar dryers in Kenya are an improved innovation to boost the quality and taste of various dried products.

To get quality solar dryers in Kenya;

Call 0790719020

What is an Agricultural Solar Dryer?

Agricultural dryers preserve grains, vegetables, fruits, and commercial crops such as coffee, pyrethrum, and herbs. A dryer is an artificial structure that enables air to distribute solar heat over the drying products, thus eliminating moisture.

Solar Dryers for Agriculture in Kenya

Drying food and other agricultural products in Kenya is challenging due to unfavorable weather conditions. Farmers are shifting to modern greenhouse solar dryers because they are better than traditional drying methods. Solar-powered dryers protect food or dried products from dust, moisture, or microorganisms.

Agricultural Solar Dryer Prices in Kenya

Importance of Solar Dryers in Kenya

Besides reducing food contamination, modern solar drying technology also lowers the carbon footprint, thus making it sustainable for environmental use. Solar dryers are solving food
Solar dryers make the drying process faster compared to drying in the sun. High heat with temperatures of up to 45° is generated in a greenhouse solar dryer, thus shortening the drying process.
Dryers reduce the moisture content of harvested crops in 48 hours. In addition, there is no risk of moisture content re-exposure provided the structure is built well.

Categories of Solar Dryers

• Natural solar dryers – designed to dry crops directly using the solar power. The wall structure is covered with transparent solar-transmitting polycarbonate material.
• Commercial solar dryer – a dryer designed for large-scale drying of products.
• Hybrid solar dryer– improved solar dryer that operate with combined energy options including solar, heat, and battery storage power.

Types of Agricultural Solar Dryers in Kenya

Wooden Solar Dryers

A dryer made of wooden materials, including frames, poles, or planks. Wooden dryers are designed with cabinets to hold the drying products. Outer covers are transparent polythene cover material. They are cheap to construct and suitable for small-scale food drying.

Metallic Solar Dryers

Metallic dryers are made from steel pipes fabricated to form various structure shapes. Are either tunnel, V-shaped, or flat roofed design. Similarly, it is covered with polycarbonate or polythene cover material. Drying chambers also

Agricultural Solar Dryers in Kenya : How they Operate

A greenhouse solar dryer implements convection where cold air enters, heats up, and dries moist products. Moisture is heated, evaporates, and removed through ventilation.
The polythene cover allows sunlight in and traps heat, keep in mind that it is transparent and allows excellent sunlight transmission.
Black insulation material, mostly a dam liner, absorbs heat and prevents loss to the ground.

Solar dryer construction materials

• Steel
• Wooden frames
• Polythene covers
• Cement, Sand and Ballast
• Black insulation material (liner)
• Insect Net
• Tapping screws or Nails
• Gutters

Solar Dryers in Kenyan Agriculture

Most Kenyan farmers are still experiencing losses on their crop harvests, especially when the weather is unfavorable during the harvest period. With solar dryers, you ensure maximum efficiency while incurring less cost on labor and operation of the dryer.
Whether a small-scale or commercial grower, you can access our wide range of dryer options at your convenience.
Solar dryers have a high potential in reducing post-harvest losses and should be adopted to ensure farmers do not incur losses.

Common Uses of Solar Dryers in Agriculture

• Drying of grains; corn, beans, millet, and sorghum
• Cassava, arrowroots, groundnuts, peanuts, cashew nuts.
• Vegetables: spinach, kale, cabbage, tomato, and indigenous vegetables.
• Coffee, Moringa, pyrethrum, and other herbs
• Spices; Pepper, onion, garlic, or chives.
• Fruits: mango, pawpaw, and citrus seeds.
• Meat, fish, and omena.

What are the Benefits of Agricultural Solar Dryers in Kenya?

• Solar dryers are energy efficient.
• Solar drying helps preserve nutrients better than sun drying.
• Improves the quality through value addition.
• Solar dryers reduce drying time, improving turnaround for farmers.
• Reduced carbon footprint compared to other drying techniques.
• Cost-effective to use
• Low operating costs once set up
• Income generation due to reduced crop wastage and better-quality products.

Success Stories : Impacts of our Agricultural Solar Dryers in Kenya

Solar Dryer Construction in Utawala, Nairobi, Kenya:

A client based in Utawala was looking for a dryer to effectively dry her herb products for export. The types of dryers that another dealer constructed for them were not effective enough to dry the herb leaves on a short duration.
We constructed a metallic dryer which reduced the drying time to 48 hours. The client was very happy with our work and is looking forward to building more dryers to scale up the capacity of herbs to dry.

Coffee Solar Dryer Constructed in Bungoma:

We constructed a commercial coffee solar dryer for a farmer in Bungoma. The client needed a solar dryer for drying harvested coffee berries. Showcase a community or cooperative-based solar drying project in Kenya.

Since completion, the solar dryer has helped them maximize the capacity of dried coffee and thus reduce losses.

How Farmers Can Adopt Solar Drying Technology

Get a quality dryer designed and constructed for you by Aqua Hub Ltd. We are popular dealer for simple and hybrid solar dryers in Kenya.

Call 0790719020

4 Simple Steps to Set Up an Agricultural Solar Dryer

1. Choose a suitable space, a flat with sunlight access available.
2. Contact Aqua Hub and Pay for Site Visit. For measurement, advice and Quote Calculation.
3. Buy Materials from Aqua Hub Ltd.
4. Installation commences and ends in few working days

Call 0790719020

How to choose a Solar Dryer

Farmers must choose a suitable dryer based on the capacity of the produce they want to dry. A good dryer size would depend on the crop quantity as well. Crop type is also a determinant as crops like tomato require high efficiency and heat control to prevent nutrient damage.