Apollo Karuga, a recognized Kenyan Food Systems Hero by the UN’s FAO, aimed to address Kenya’s broken food system by developing an affordable, eco-friendly solution for smallholder farmers to preserve food throughout different seasons. Karuga, through his team at Grow Point International, created a solar food dehydrator designed to reduce moisture in food and extend shelf life. The dehydrator, made from locally available materials, utilizes a solar panel, blackpainted buckets for heat absorption, and wire mesh to hold the food.

The project develops and demonstrates a climate-smart farming system, which will be created by development of new agricultural technologies and a redesigned network of the existing African agri-food value chain to increase resilience, sustainability, and circularity. The deployment of the integrated chia-mushroom -pig biogas value chain contributes to the diversification and resilience of African food systems against the impacts of climate change.