Food waste: The solar dryer solution

A simple system for saving food and empowering women on the show today. Hundreds of millions of tonnes of food go to waste every year, much of it before it is even sold. This waste is bad for the planet, but also for farmers and consumers.

A company in India has found an solution. They collect imperfect produce that would otherwise have been left by farmers to rot and use specially designed solar dryers to remove the water. They then take the dried fruit and vegetables, process it, and sell it on.

The benefits of their system go far beyond food waste. By setting up collectives of women in rural India with the machines, they’re transforming the lives and status of a group of people who traditionally struggle to gain economic independence.

Chhavi Sachdev goes to see the system in action, finds out who is buying the dried produce and discovers what it actually tastes like. Image: Kavita Gadekar, who uses the solar dryer