Global food production has reached a record high in recent years; however, one third of all food produced for human consumption is lost or wasted, equivalent to 1.3 billion tons. Post-harvest food loss is a leading cause of food insecurity for millions families across the world. Achieving zero hunger by 2030 will require that no more food is lost or wasted.
In many some developing countries, smallholder farmers regularly lose 40 percent of their harvest due to inadequate storage. Consequently, many farmers sell their produce immediately after harvest—at a time when prices are low due to high supply – only to buy back the same produce later at increased prices.
For grains, one of the main reasons farmers sell almost immediately is because when they store for long their grains get mouldy, and one reason wh the grains get mouldy if farmers inability to measure the moisture content in their grains before storage.
With a moisture meter, these farmers would know whether their grains are dry enough for storage or have to be dried some more. But, moisture meters on the market are really expensive, retailing at over $400, which is way more than the smallholder can afford. As the son of a farmer, that hit close to home, so when the opportunity came for me to turn things around, I took it.
After 3 years of research with my university in partnership with the USAID Feed The Future Innovation Lab for the Reduction of Postharvest Loss Project, my team built GrainMate, a low-cost grain moisture meter, which makes it easy for farmers to measure the moisture content in 7 different grain types before storage.
GrainMate is really simple to use. The farmer puts the probe in his grain, selects the grain type and after a few moments, the GrainMate tells the farmer the moisture content and what he should do. Knowing this means that a can store his grains for longer and sell them at a higher price later...and this extra income can be the difference between his family eating dinner or starving.
GrainMate retails at $100, 4 times cheaper than what's on the market while offering superior accuracy and ease of use. And what is even more exciting is farmers who don’t have cash, can come together and exchange grains for grainmate. We soon plan to roll out our subscription service where for $2 per harvest season farmers can have their moisture content tested at their site.
So far, we have sold 300 grainmates, made $20,000 and we are preparing to scale to Nigeria and Kenya. GrainMate has been endorsed by the USAID and World Food Programme and MIT even named me as one of their Innovators Under 35.
Going forward, we see GrainMate as the first step in our journey to empower smallholder farmers with more technologies to help them come out of poverty.
We seek to create an Africa where our children never have to go to bed on an empty stomach.