Who Pays for the System’s Failures
Solar-powered cold storage is helping African farmers preserve produce, reduce spoilage and reach markets in Europe and elsewhere, but the deeper story is the one the infrastructure itself tells: smallholder farmers are left to absorb the losses created by weak storage, transport and processing systems. In Nairobi, Kenya, the AP report centers on Kenyan farmer Yvonne Anyonyi Mumiah, who walks between rows of rosemary, basil and other crops destined for European supermarkets and now depends on a solar-powered cool storage service to keep her produce fresh.
Mumiah said she once worried that transport delays or extreme heat could spoil much of her harvest. She said many smallholder farmers could not afford the roughly $30,000 upfront cost of a solar-powered cold storage unit of their own. Her words cut through the polished language of “innovation”: "You can do everything right on the farm, but if the produce is not stored properly, you lose both the product and income," she said. "We are no longer forced to sell immediately because we fear the produce will spoil. We can wait for collection and still maintain quality."
The Food and Agriculture Organisation estimates that up to 40% of food produced in Africa is lost between harvest and market, largely because of poor storage, transport and processing infrastructure. That is the hierarchy in plain view: decisions and neglect at the top, spoilage and lost income at the bottom. Solar-powered, off-grid cold rooms, warehouses and cooling hubs are being used to preserve perishable goods without relying on expensive and unreliable electricity grids, and the shift is gaining momentum in Kenya, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Rwanda and South Africa.
What the Market Calls a Solution
The pay-per-use model offered by cold-chain company SoKo Fresh charges farmers based on kilograms stored and is part of a broader trend in Africa toward using solar-powered cold storage to address food spoilage. SoKo Fresh says it has cut spoilage rates for its customers from up to 50% to under 2%, while helping farmers earn up to 50% more per kilogram. In Nigeria, companies like ColdHubs have installed solar-powered walk-in cold rooms in major agricultural markets, allowing farmers and traders to rent space daily rather than invest in expensive equipment.
In Rwanda, solar-powered refrigeration is being used to support dairy cooperatives and improve milk collection. In Ethiopia, cold-chain investments are expanding to support horticultural exports, one of the country’s fastest-growing agricultural sectors. The article said such innovations are becoming increasingly important as African countries seek to improve food security while reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Traditional cold storage systems often depend on diesel generators, particularly in areas with unreliable electricity. Solar-powered alternatives can reduce fuel consumption and operating costs while lowering emissions.
The article said the most important benefit may be economic rather than environmental. For decades, development efforts have focused heavily on expanding electricity access across Africa, and while millions of households have gained access to power, less attention has been paid to ensuring that electricity can be used to generate income. Emmanuel Aziebor, regional director for Africa at CLASP, a nonprofit organisation that supports the deployment of energy-efficient appliances and productive-use technologies, said, "Cold storage remains one of the missing links in Africa’s agricultural value chains." He said, "When farmers can store produce for longer, they gain access to better markets, reduce waste and increase incomes."
Investment, Grants, and the Usual Bottleneck
Aziebor also said, "We have neglected the conversation around how people can turn electricity into opportunity," and added, "We keep extending electricity infrastructure, but unless people can use that power productively, the economic benefits never fully materialize." That line lands with the force of a bureaucratic confession: infrastructure alone does not feed people, protect harvests, or erase the costs pushed downward onto farmers.
Funding remains a challenge. Carol Koech, vice president for Africa at the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet, said, "The challenge today is not demonstrating that these systems work. It is building enough bankable projects that can attract larger pools of investment and scale across countries." The article said grants, low-interest loans and donor support can help cover upfront costs, but attracting sufficient commercial investment remains difficult because many agricultural markets are fragmented and dominated by small-scale producers.
Denis Karema, SoKo Fresh CEO, said, "These investors see emerging technologies as high risk because we lack enough proven business models with reliable returns." He added, "That makes funding for our type of projects expensive." The language of “risk” and “returns” is doing what it always does: translating farmers’ survival into a problem of investor comfort. Meanwhile, the people growing the food are the ones forced to navigate spoilage, unreliable grids, and the cost of access just to keep their harvest from rotting before it reaches market.