Flanders Southern Africa – Gender CC Southern Africa (GCRCI Project)

The Flanders Southern Africa – supported resilience building and vulnerability reduction project implemented by GenderCCSA for smallholder farmers in Hebron, Northwest Province and Vhembe, Limpopo Province was able to train farmers on how to dry their produce with solar dryers in collaboration with Food Masters SA .

The smallholder farmers who participated in the training were given solar dryers supplied by @UmoyaDryers to process their fruits, vegetables and herbs to minimise food waste by diverting produce that would otherwise have been thrown away as post-harvest waste.
A new WWF report shows that 1.2 billion tonnes of the world’s food is lost before it leaves the farm, leading to an increased climate change impact as food waste is responsible for 8% of greenhouse gases (WWF, 2021).

One of the positive impacts of the project funded by the Goverment of Flanders supported project was the training of small farmers and cooperatives to learn how to dry their products using a solar dryer, and the purchase of the dryers for the cooperatives and small farmers so that they can earn an income from their main products and the dried products they process with the dryers.
The next steps are to provide access to the market for the cooperatives and smallholders and help them to generate income from both their core products and their processed goods.

SOURCE:

1. WWF, 2021: Over 15% of food is lost before it leaves the farm

https://www.wwf.eu/?4049841/fifteen-per-cent-of-food-is-lost-before-leaving-the-farm-WWF-report