Tackling Food Security Through Preservation of Vegetables

Jessie Ngoma-Simengwa

4 June 2011

ZAMBIA is this year yet again celebrating the maize bumper harvest through efforts yielded through the hard work of small-scale farmers who have been helped by government’s good policies in the agriculture sector.

It is an established fact that key players especially small-scale farmers are important contributors to the economy as they help in the sustenance of food security.

But as the nation makes great strides in agriculture, citizens are increasingly making attempts at diversifying their crop growing after realising that food security does not necessarily mean maize production only.

Vegetables also make a big difference more so that they could be preserved through drying.

Sometimes farmers are faced with challenges one of them being the selling of their crops during the harvest period, particularly when they have a surplus and there is a risk of post harvest wastage.

But such a challenge could be addressed through food drying and preservation methods.

According to documented research, drying retains the taste, appearance and nutritive value of fresh food.

It is also an excellent way to preserve foods that could add variety to meals.

Drying food takes less storage space than canned or frozen foods.

In terms of nutrition, vegetables are a good source of minerals and vitamin B.

Further research also states that cleanliness and sanitation are essential when it comes to food drying.

Suitable technology has come on the market to help farmers dry their food.

However, for small-scale farmers who cannot afford modern technology, other means have been employed to help preserve their harvested crop and prevent wastage.

Recently, the International Women Media Foundation (IWMF), during a monitoring and evaluating workshop on reporting women in agriculture which was held in Kampala, Uganda, conducted a field trip at the national agricultural research whose main purpose is to improve agricultural research.

The research centre has trained farmers on how to preserve food, particularly the rural farmers who are most affected by poverty due to lack of proper knowledge and marketing.

Storage entomologist Harriet Muyinza works with farmers on how to prevent storage of crops.

Ms Muyinza said there are different methods which farmers could use to preserve their produce.

She cited the solar drier which could be used to dry vegetables and fruits.

She said some farmers had faced problems on how to dry their crops during the rainy season, but the biomas dryer, which dries food away from the rain and uses charcoal by radiating heat, has been introduced to farmers to help them preserve their food.

It should, therefore, be acknowledged that technology to enhance the shelf life of food is important.

But as Ms Muyinza said, drying of food using the old traditional methods has its own challenges when it comes to handling crops such as beans, cassava and groundnuts as these are dried on the ground and attract contamination through pets and fungal contamination which later creates moulding of crops and gets rejected by the market.

“Training of post-harvest demonstration on technology in food drying has been given to farmers as it has been observed that insects can cause a100 per cent damage,” she said.

Additionally, proper procedure on preservation of food should be followed.

Research shows that solid metal trays are not ideal for drying foods because air should circulate all around the food so that drying could take place from bottom and the top at the same time.

Racks made out of galvanised screen, copper fibre glass and aluminium are not advisable as such metals could cause an acid reaction that forms harmful compounds and darkens food.

In Zambia, the commonest method used to dry vegetables is through blanching.

This process involves scalding vegetables in boiled water for a short time before drying them.

Research also shows that this method also stops enzyme action which drying could not stop.

If not blanched, enzymes could destroy colour and flavour.

There are some exceptions. Vegetables such as onions, mushrooms and okra need not be blanched before drying.

And Austin Banda, a senior horticultural officer at the Ministry of Agriculture in Ndola, said the food and nutrition sector works with farmers to ensure that farmers know storage, processing and utilisation of food.

He said sun drying in Zambia was the major method used, and that equipment known as the sun drier, which is readily available in the country and is easily accessed by small-scale farmers, is used to dry vegetables.

Mr Banda said farmers had been trained not to dry vegetables directly in the sun as the crop loses nutrients and taste.

He said a group of women farmers in Kanyenda in Mpongwe District on the Copperbelt had been provided with the sun drier provided by the ministry.

As Zambia hosts the African Growth Opportunity Act summit, this is to be used as a tool to alleviate poverty and enhance the living standards of people in Zambia as it would add value to agricultural produce through export of dried foods.

While improved mechanised dry technology enables farmers to achieve the quality standards required to access markets, sun drying for small-scale farmers in rural areas has also proved to be effective as these areas are not polluted with emissions from factories and other environmental challenges that affect the urban set up.

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