bold idea
Enhance food security and reduce post-harvest losses in developing countries by providing climate-smart agriculture powered by renewable energy assets.
organization overview
Solar Freeze aims to help the estimated 500 million smallholder farmers in developing countries who lose an average of 50 percent of their perishable produce even before the crops leave the farm. Temperature control is the most important factor in reducing post-harvest food losses for fresh produce, but the cold-storage chain is virtually nonexistent due to the high cost of equipment and spotty electricity. Solar Freeze provides farmers with portable solar-powered cold-storage units that they can access through mobile phones via simple SMS and USSD messages to book and store perishable produce using the sharing economy, and pay with mobile money.
Personal Bio
Dysmus Kisilu founded Solar Freeze at the age of 27. He has been recognized for his work in renewable energy and smallholder agriculture by the United Nations through the UNLEASH program, which identifies youth-led solutions to achieve the U.N.’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). He is a 2017 Global Citizen Waislitz Award Finalist, a 2016 Mandela Washington Fellow under the Renewable Energy track, a 2017 International Youth Foundation Fellow for Renewable Energy & Agriculture, a 2018 St. Andrews Prize for the Environment finalist, 2018 Community Solar Awards Winner by Hogan Lovells, and a 2017 Winner of Africa Energy Prize by Enel Green Power.
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Impact Location ?
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