A cost-effective, safe and automated dryer (dehydrator) has been designed and fabricated by a young Nigerian based in Lagos with a passion to minimise post-harvest food losses.

Life spans of fish, grains, fruits, and vegetables, among others, can be safely extended by removing moisture contents by up to 90 percent. This ensures the longevity of perishable foods, prevents loss and wastage, and boosts nutrition and food security.

And to meet up with emerging global demand for affordable and quality food products through exports, especially in the context of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCTA), farmers, small and medium-scale food processing industry at all levels need to employ machines, such as smart dryers that can increase their production capacity and quality at a sustainable operational cost.

Hence, the designer and fabricator of the dryer and Managing Director of KMF-Concept Solution Limited, Sunkanmi Oluwaleye, said the device would solve challenges causing post-harvest losses.
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The dryer is equipped with an intelligent control unit that ensures that the required amount of energy produced from its gas burner or electric heater is evenly distributed, thereby reducing operational costs.

It also has a rich graphic user interface, implying that users can create and save desired drying parameters for a particular product and reuse this to produce consistent drying quality without human supervision, just by a simple click from your phone or the dryer’s display screen.

Other features of the dryer include the ability to dry sensitive agricultural products like onions, tomatoes, and leafy vegetables, among others, with heat energy from its automatic gas burner without contaminating the drying sample with possible smoke that might be produced during the heat generation. Hence, cooking gas can create a smooth and clean drying experience like advanced electric dryers.

The innovator of the dryer, Sunkanmi Oluwaleye, said: “Using this dryer, you can automatically control excess moisture content from your drying sample with a speed-controlled fan that responds to the humidity level of the drying chamber, making it possible for you to dry crop samples with high water content.”

Furthermore, the dryer locally stores the drying operation data such as temperatures and humidity that can be analyzed later for a quality assurance process. This will facilitate the process of obtaining the necessary certifications required for the export of food crops by local food processors and farmers.

Oluwaleye added that with the dryer, the energy source could be configured to be an electric heater, cooking gas, or hybrid mode.  The “hybrid mode” uses electric heaters as the primary energy source and automatically switches on the gas burner when main electricity is off during a drying operation,” he explained.

The dehydrator has an inbuilt Lithium-ion battery bank that can power its operation when using gas as a source of heat without electricity supply. The dryer automatically recharges the battery bank whenever the main electricity is restored. Also, there is an option to charge the battery bank with solar energy, making it possible to use the dryer in an entirely off-grid environment, such as unpowered remote farms.
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