This archive report was first published on 11 May 2021.
Published on May 11, 2021, a remarkable innovation in Laikipia County has put a small village on the continental map by reducing post-harvest losses.
David Buuri, a 43-year-old innovator, led the development of the EasyDry M-500 maize dryer in partnership with the Laikipia County Government's Innovation and Enterprise Development Programme.
The EasyDry M500, originally developed by the AflaSTOP project with funding from USAid and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, is a highly mobile, portable maize dryer targeted at smallholder farmers.
It uses open-source technology to dry maize in batches of 500 kilos, lowering the moisture level from 18 to 20 per cent to approximately 13.5 per cent in three hours.
The dryer burns maize cobs as its main heat source, given that cobs are available on farms and at little to no cost.
A second fan, powered by five litres of petrol per day, pushes clean air through alternative channels in the heat exchange.
The innovative solution has attracted farmers from all over the country and the African continent, with buyers coming from as far as Tanzania, Nigeria, and Congo.
However, the Covid-19 pandemic has negatively impacted the uptake of the machines, especially among international clients due to travel restrictions.
