ACTS in collaboration with Birmingham and London Southern Bank University is implementing a community based cooling project to stem post-harvest losses in Kenya. The hubs will also be used to store animal and human vaccines. The project covers dairy farming in Kiambu, horticulture in Kitui and fish farming in Homabay counties.

Under the banner of Community Cooling Hubs (CCH), the project aims to drastically reduce post-harvest losses at the community level by promoting and deploying easily accessible cooling technologies.The project will deliver clean energy solutions to smallholder producer communities in Kenya in a bid to address food losses and waste while also adding value to various agri-food sectors in Kenya.

A needs assessment to understand community cooling needs and demands on specific value chains has already been conducted, providing valuable insights that would form the basis for implementing the project. The assessment revealed storage challenges facing specific value chains - lack of transport, market and storage facilities, exploitation by middlemen and inadequate capital to finance agronomic practices.

Other challenges mentioned are lack of veterinary services and knowledge on value addition and unpredictable weather patterns.

Milk coolers at Kiriita Cooperative Society premises in Kiambu