International Journal Series in Multidisciplinary Research (IJSMR), ISSN: 2455–2461
Vol. 1, No. 3, 2015, 31-45 http://ijseries.com/
Food Preservation Challenges in Rural Areas of Developing Countries. A
Case Study of Ha-Makuya Rural Areas in Limpopo Province, South Africa
Peter Bikam,
Professor, School of Environmental Sciences,
Department of Urban and Regional Planning, University of Venda, Private Bag X5050,
Thohoyandou, 0950, South Africa.
ABSTRACT: The paper uses a remote rural settlement, Ha-Makuya in South Africa to demonstrate that
renewable energy sources can promote food preservation in areas where modern means of food preservation facilities
are unavailable. In 1994 the provincial government in Limpopo province initiated a number of Photovoltaic (PV)
pilot projects to provide electricity for the local residents. The aim of the program was to eradicate poverty among
rural dwellers in formerly traditional settlement areas. In 1996, the government started a number of solar energy
projects in Vhembe District of Limpopo Province, South Africa to promote first and foremost electricity supply in
remote rural areas to enable them perform their domestic duties with ease as well as give them the opportunity to
engage in solar energy related food preservation. The study therefore, assesses the impact of the PV system on food
preservation and extra domestic uses to see if it has made any significance difference in food preservation as well as
enhance household duties like food storage, cooking, lighting, access to information and reduction in food perishing
from inadequate preservation. A social assessment tool on selected households was used to unpack the method of
food preservation in Ha-Makuya. The study focused on traditional means of food preservation such as cooling,
drying, to show that elementary means of food preservation are very important in remote rural areas where modern
means of food preservation are absent. The study shows that the simplest means of traditional food preservation can
ensure food security as compared to those who do not practice such simple methods.
KEYWORDS: Food preservation method, rural, solar dryers, cultural perceptions
1. RESEARCH BACKGROUND
The notion of food preservation is discussed in the context of the example of sustainable
food security from rural farmers in Ha-Makuya in South Africa. According to Devereux et al
(2001), food security arises from a combination of factors related to access to land, available
farm inputs, water for irrigation as well as appropriate energy and technologies for preserving
and processing the food produce. In the remote rural areas of South Africa where there is little
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or no farm inputs to increase food crop production beyond subsistence farming, food security
mean has a different connotation. One of the questions to the respondents during the
investigation was “what do you consider as most important in food security? The answers were
varied but 68% of the respondents pointed to the fact that they do not often get the required
farm inputs to improve food production beyond subsistent level and rely on food preservation
methods to preserve food up to the next farming season. This brings us to the question of how
food can be preserved among subsistent rural farmers in a manner that would ensure an
acceptable level of food security till the next farming season. This question is important because
the local farmers sometimes have the land to farm, basic agricultural skills, farm inputs such as
improved seeds and fertilisers but most of them do not have access to energy services and
technologies for post-harvest preservation. In South Africa it is not uncommon to have abundant
fruits yet travelling through such rural areas during harvest times it is not uncommon to find
the food produce rotting on roadsides Leedy (1989).
2. METHODOLOGY
In order to assess the types and method of food preservation in Ha-Makuya, social
assessment tools and techniques were used. In this regard, Rietbergen (2005) argued that social
assessment tools and techniques were appropriate for researches aimed at assessing people’s
means of livelihoods, particularly how they need to attain it. Information was obtained directly
from household respondents in Ha-Makuya on the method and practice of food preservations
they used. To achieve this, household heads were interviewed. The selection of the households
was based on a stratified random sampling method where 250 households were randomly
selected out of the total number of 431 in Ha-Makuya. The selection was done proportional to
the population in the three sub-villages namely Makuya, Dotha, and Mahaloni. The household
interviews were conducted to give the household heads the opportunity to discuss their methods
of food preservation and what materials they used to achieve that. The interviews provided an
avenue to ask the household heads their methods of food preservation and which materials they
used, and whether they were satisfied with their current methods of food preservation. In
addition to this focus group discussions were conducted with local structures in the selected
communities. These include Women Church Association in the Dotha, the Male Farmers
Association in Mahaloni and the Ha-Makuya Ward Councilors. The discussion with these
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groups of people was aimed at assessing their collective perception on current methods of food
preservation and whether they think they were adequate. The information collected during these
interviews was also used to verify the validity of the results obtained from the administered
questionnaires. Special attention was paid to the respondent’s perceptions, experiences,
opinions and knowledge related food preservations.
On the spot observation of the type of food items and types of preservations was undertaken
to assess the problems and difficulties associated with each food preservation method. This was
aimed at looking at the ways in which the foods were prepared for preservation and the time it
took to process the food items. The quantities of food preserved or perished were assessed.
3. DISCUSSIONS
The discussions in this section of the paper were drawn from the assessment of the impact
of solar energy on food preservation. These include the choice of Ha-Makuya, food preservation
choices available to the local farmers, indigenous knowledge systems in food preservation skills
and techniques and the challenge to renewable energy researches on food preservation
particularly in remote rural areas.
3.1. The choice of Ha-Makuya as a Case Study Area
Ha-Makuya was chosen among other rural farming communities in Limpopo Province of
South Africa because data on food preservation had been compiled by the Land Bank of South
Africa in 1998. However, the final selection of the Ha-Makuya as the most suitable research
area was based on the following criteria. (Bryant 1998).
 The area is an isolated rural settlement area where subsistent farming is practiced and
where there was no on-grid electricity to households.
In this criterion, the emphasis was on the fact that the area unlike others enabled us to make
comparison on the impact of food preservation in areas with on-grid electricity areas compared
to areas without such facilities.
 Ha-Makuya is one of the South Africa’s traditional settlement areas where a great deal
of traditional knowledge skills in farming and food preservation is practiced (Anderson
2003).
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The isolated settlement pattern in Ha-Makuya meets the criteria of remote rural area and also
because on-grid electricity is connected to certain houses along the main road while other
houses far from the road had Photovoltaic (PV) systems and some did not have them.
 Ha-Makuya and surrounding villages had 575 households out of which 115 households
or 20% had on-grid electricity supply, 86 households or 15% had PV systems and 431
households or 75% had no form of organized electricity supply in 2010.
As compared to the 150 rural settlement communities in Mutale district in Limpopo
province, Ha-Makuya has a large number of subsistence farmers: there is PV System in certain
households, on-grid in others, but the majority of the households do not have any form of
electricity supply. Ha-Makuya produces a variety of crops like maize, cabbage, lettuce, oranges,
bananas, tomatoes, green beans, livestock and a host of indigenous food produce at a
subsistence level.
3.2. Food Crops Production in Ha-Makuya
The discussion on food production is not an exposé on agricultural production in Ha-Makuya
but it will enable us understand later in the discussion how solar energy has an impact on food
produce preservation. In Ha-Makuya settlement area, the majority of the residents are subsistent
farmers. Although there are school teachers, health workers, agricultural extension workers as
well as social workers our emphasis in the research was on subsistence farmers. This was
because we wanted to establish the quantities of food crops produced per household, quantities
preserved and stored for domestic consumption, quantities sold for cash, quantities preserved
and quantity that perished as a result of non-preservation (Van Horen 1995).
Since most of the villagers were subsistent farmers that farmed a variety of crop produce, we
chose to limit our research investigation on crops that were produced by most of the farmers,
and crops that were likely to perish if not preserved. In order to do this it was necessary to
interrogate the respondents on the production of crop produce like tomatoes, onions, maize,
pawpaw, sweet potatoes, mangoes, oranges, peanuts, cabbage, bananas and a variety of wild
vegetables in the area. A total of 250 households were interviewed in Ha-Makuya and the
findings revealed the following:
Tomatoes production: The average production per household was 20 crates of 25kgs during
the farming season. During the dry season only a few farmers were able to farm tomatoes if
they had farmlands near the river. During the dry season the average household production was
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only 5 crates of 50kgs per household. What was pertinent to note was that production and
harvest time were restricted to a period of about two to three months. This means that the
tomatoes should be left on the farm, picked when ripe, consumed at home, or sold at a giveaway
price. Since tomatoes have to be consumed soon after harvesting, the quantity that could not be
sold or consumed at home got rotten or perished (Holms 2006).
Maize production in Ha-Makuya, in the Limpopo province of South Africa is the staple food
in the region. Almost all families residing in Ha-Makuya farm maize (mealies) on their erf or
the farms scattered around the villages. The average production per household was 8 bags of
100kgs maize. The 8 bags of maize did not include those that were consumed while the cobs
were still wet. Since the eating of corn in this manner was considered a luxury it was not
factored into our assessment of the average production per household. Maize was left to dry on
the farm before harvesting or harvested and kept in a dry cool area, usually hanged on tree
branches with the cobs but sometimes the seeds were removed and dried in the sun on mats
before they were put in bags. South Africa is a major maize producing country and when
harvested they are processed and stored in large silos before they are sold to both local and
international distribution markets. The local farmers in Ha-Makuya did not fit this setup. As a
result of this, the local farmers processed their maize locally and preserved them locally,
(Conner et al 1997).
In Ha-Makuya, the farmers also farm peanuts, onions, cabbage, bananas, paw paws and
oranges. The quantity of the production of these crops varied from one household to the other.
Some of the households grew a few of these but not necessarily all of them at the same time.
Figure 1 shows the quantity of crops produced per household from 2010 to 2015.
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Average food crop production in kgs per household in
Ha-Makuya 2010 to 2015
1000
800
600
400
200
0
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
Maize
Tomatoes
Sweet potatoes
Onions
Paw paws
Mangoes
Oranges
Cabbages
Bananas
Peanuts
Average
Figure 1 Average food crop production per household in Ha-Makuya 2010-2015 (Sources: Authors field data 2014)
From bar Figure 1 we can see that apart from maize, sweet potatoes, mangoes and oranges
whose production show a subsistent level of production it is clear that the quantities produced
were so small that they were kept mainly for domestic consumption. The excess or surplus was
sold on the road side or the nearest sub regional market which is Thohoyandou. It was
interesting to note that during harvest period one can see that the villagers harvested several
crops but they complained of the inability to preserve much of the crop produce until the next
farming season because of inadequate preservation techniques. (Khumbane 1997).
3.3. Traditional Methods of Food Preservation in Ha-Makuya
Considering the food crops grown in Ha-Makuya between 2000 and 2015, the choice of
preserving them was mainly three: namely drying, cooling, and salting and to a lesser extent
smoking.
3.3.1. Sun drying of food in Ha-Makuya
Drying of food in Ha-Makuya is one of the oldest and traditional methods of preserving food
in a simple but cheap manner. Sun drying of maize, peanuts, tomatoes, mangoes and banana
flesh were made possible because the area is located in the northern part of South Africa where
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the average temperature level per day per year was 28 degrees centigrade (LBSA 2003). This
method was most practicable because there is sunshine for most part of the year except during
the winter in June, July and part of August every year. The process of drying fruits like
mangoes, bananas, paw paws etc., included cutting them into pieces and spreading them during
the day on mats, concrete flat surface and flat granite rocks. Drying is also the normal means
of preserving grains such as maize and sorghum.
3.3.2. Preserving under the shade
Probably as old as drying, it is also one of the ways the villagers in Ha-Makuya used to
preserve farm produce. Usually onions, tomatoes, mangoes, oranges and sweet potatoes were
kept under the shade after harvesting, particularly by hanging them under the tree to ensure
maximum shade cover. (DoA 2002). Food items preserved under the shade were either to
extend the life of the produce or preserve them for the local markets during off seasons.
3.3.3. Salting and wind drying
Salting and wind drying were done because most fungi, bacteria and other potentially
pathogenic organisms cannot survive in highly salty and windy environment because the
organism become dehydrated through osmosis and die or become temporarily inactivated. The
salt draws the moisture and creates an environment inhospitable to bacteria. When salted in a
cold weather as it was the case in Ha-Makuya it enabled the moisture in the meat to dry out
while the low temperature under the shade of the tree kept the meat from getting rotten
(Hubbard 1995).
3.3.4. Smoking and drying
This was not a very popular method of preserving food in Ha-Makuya. Only about 2% of the
respondents indicated that they smoked their meat or insects like Mopani worms or termites.
They sometimes do this when they had excess otherwise it was eaten at home. The practice of
smoking was sometimes done in conjunction with drying. It was the process of curing, cooking,
or seasoning by exposing the food gently without burning for a period of time to the smoke
from wood fire. Hot smoking “braai” was sometimes used to fully dry the food under the sun.
In order to determine to what extends the “traditional method” of preservation impacted on
household food preservation, the respondents were asked to indicate the quantity of food items
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and how they were preserved. Fig. 2 shows the food mostly found in Ha-Makuya, the quantity
and the type of preservation method used.
Methods of preservation and quantity in kg per household in Ha-Makuya
1000
900
800
700
600
500
400
300
200
100
0
Maize
Tomatoes
Onions
Sweet potatoes
Paw paw
Mangoes
Oranges
Cabbages
Bananas
Peanuts
Fish
Meat
Dairy products
Figure 2 Average food preservation per-household in Ha-Makuya in 2014 (Source: Mutale municipality IDP Document 2014)
Figure 2 shows the traditional form of preservation used by the residents in the Ha-Makuya
to prolong the life of food items (Department of Agriculture 2002). In spite of the methods we
can see from the figures that large quantities of food items were lost due to inadequate nature
of the methods, used for preservation but large quantities were preserved. The sustainability of
the methods depends on the type of food item. For example maize was easily left on the farm
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to dry and harvested only when the need arises. As a result of this large quantities of maize
were preserved by the subsistent farmers in Ha-Makuya in 2014.
Figure 2 shows that the fruits items were the most affected in terms of the quantities that
perished due to inadequate methods of preservation. It was important to note that the food items
that were mostly affected were cabbage 49% of the total average production per household in
2014. Other food items were pawpaw 45%. Dairy products like milk were 45%, bananas 34%,
mangoes 42% and tomatoes 36%. The food items that were least affected were maize, sweet
potatoes and peanuts because they could be left on the farm and harvested only when the need
arises. This reduced wastage due to rotting. Table 2 shows that only small quantities of food
items were preserved in the fridge and the solar cabinet because only a small number of villagers
had them. The solar cabinet if improved has the potential for longer food preservation in the
villages.
3.4. The Limitations of the Traditional Food Preservation in Ha-Makuya
In the preceding graphs we have seen that traditional methods of food preservations like sun
drying, cooling under the shade, smoking etc. play a vital role in preserving food but they have
limitations. For instance the materials used for food preservation i.e. spreading food items on
mat or flat concrete places were subjected to contaminations from creeping insects, dust from
the air, and if not well looked after, domestic animals can eat them. In the second place, these
types of food preservation change the taste of the produce over time. For example 25% of the
respondents indicated they did not like the taste of smoked meat hence, the low number of
people that smoked meat. However, those who smoked meat indicated it has helped to prolong
the life span. In addition to this smoking is done with firewood and the method is not only long
and cumbersome but irritating to the eye and it is also a major cause of deforestation in areas
where smoking meat is a major practice. The question is what can food technologist particularly
those researching on renewable energy do about this? This question is important because many
poor rural dwellers located in isolated areas where there are no refrigerators continue to use
traditional methods of food preservation which is not cost effective. In addition to this, smoking
consumes a lot of time and if not well prepared can change the taste of the end product (Mutale
IDP 2014/2015).
On cabinet solar dryers and food preservation, Ha-Makuya, the study revealed that in HaMakuya it was used to dry food produce. This prevented flies, rodents and insects from creeping
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in. The perforated nature of the cabinet was such that air can breeze in thus allowing wind
drying to take place. Similarly, the perforated nature of the cabinet made it possible for the sun
to dry the food item inside the cabinet. It was discovered that the solar cabinet dryer could not
accommodate large quantities of food at a time. However it has great potential for food
preservation in remote rural areas where there is no on-grid or PV systems, but the technology
has to be improved and adapted to rural areas (Fall 2005).
The problems of food preservation in remote and isolated rural settlements areas in HaMakuya were similar to what was encountered in the other rural areas on the African continent
and other parts of the world. The challenge to energy researchers is what can be done to improve
on food preservation methods and facilities in remote rural villages where food is produced but
wasted due to lack of adequate preservations. In South Africa not less than 60% of the
population live in rural areas and most of them faces the problem of food preservation. The
question is what can researchers in renewable energy do? In some areas in Kenya, solar cookers
have been introduced to ensure that rural dwellers without on-grid electricity used it for lighting
and possibly for food preservation and related uses. (Habtetson et al 2002).
3.5. Possibilities for Food Preservation through Solar Drying
From the discussions in the preceding paragraphs, preservation of agricultural produce is one
of the critical problems faced by developing countries. In rural areas such as Ha-Makuya, food
preservation will become more important as the rural population increases (Belasi et al 1996).
In many developing countries, large quantities of fruits and vegetables get spoiled due to
insufficient preservation processes. We have seen from the analysis in Ha-Makuya that drying
fruits and vegetables can help prevent food waste. It is also important to note that drying
vegetables, fruits and meat through solar drying processes enables longer storage times and
easier transportation (Gis-Hera 2011).
The disadvantage of solar dryers is that it requires investment for the gadgets to be
manufactured and the set up but there is no expenditure on fuel. This is because the basic
function of the solar dryer it to heat air to a constant temperature with solar energy and this in
turn facilitates the extraction of humidity from the food produce inside the drying chamber of
the facility. In this way, ventilation is enabled at a constant rate through defined air inlets and
outlets i.e. small solar ventilations or temperature differences either because of exposure or
vertical height. When a direct sun dryer is used, the crop produce is put into boxes and lid and
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as a result the temperature is raised due to greenhouse effect and air is regulated by vents. This
method is preferable to those described in Ha-Makuya in South Africa because the traditional
method of drying food can make the food to loose nutritional value when exposed to direct or
excessive sub light. According to Green and Schwarz (2001), the method is more effective
when hybrid driers are combined with solar energy with a fossil fuel or biomass fuel. In rural
areas of Africa where subsistence farming is prominent, the major advantage of the solar dryer
is that the farmers can transport their harvested crops and/or vegetables to stores and markets
and this can fetch higher prices for them during off-harvest seasons.
3.5.1. Solar powered fridges
Photovoltaic (PV) cells make up the modules placed in arrays which can convert sunlight
into direct current without any moving parts. The semi-conductor materials are encapsulated
and sealed hermetically, with suitable and adaptable electronics, PV systems can be connected
to refrigerators which can be used to preserve food in rural areas such as Ha-Makuya. Although
PV systems are not cost-competitive as compared to on-grid electricity in isolated rural
settlements like Ha-Makuya solar powered fridges can be of great advantages to the farmers for
the preservation of most of the food crops described in figures 1 and 2.
3.6. Can solar powered cooling fans be used in Ha-Makuya?
In many typical countries where the average temperature lies between 27C and 35C, home
air conditioners and fans can be used to keep the room temperature down thus producing a
cooling effect. Solar cooling devices for food and medicines would satisfy the needs of many
isolated and rural settlements in hot tropical countries and particularly in Ha-Makuya. Cooling
of food and medicines requires little energy but can have a significant impact on health and
food preservation. (Carwod 1997).
3.7. The Limitations of Food Preservations in Rural Areas
Majority of the global population in developing countries live in the rural areas and many of
them are subsistence farmers, who live on less than two dollars per day, (DME 2002. Currently
none commercial energies like firewood, harvested crops residues and cow dung are the main
components of energy supply used for food preservation and other domestic uses in many
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African countries. The problem is that these sources of energy supply were often used in a nonsustainable manner leading to deforestation and desertification, (Daries 1995). The example of
food preservation problems discussed on Ha-Makuya is what many subsistence farmers in the
developing world faced. We have seen that in Ha-Makuya, they produced food crops that can
last till the next planting season, but much of what they produce get rotten due to poor means
of preservation. If the economies of those living in rural areas in the developing world are to
grow much will depend on solar dryers and reliable food preservation methods for sustainable
consumption and marketability of the food produce. In view of the food preservation problems
encountered by many rural subsistence farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa rural communities like
Ha-Makuya, renewable means of food preservation cannot be underestimated. (FAO 1995).
In the rural areas of South Africa majority of the households depend on traditional biomass
for cooking and other forms of food preservations. The majority of these were women. In most
parts of rural Africa the use of traditional biomass was 90 %( Leah et al 1987). Something has
to be done for these poor rural farmers in terms of food preservation facilities but the challenges
are enormous. These include researching on the cost of investing in food preservation, the forms
of and sizes of the facilities, the marketability of the produce and considering that most of the
rural dwellers are very poor will there be markets? Similarly, maintenance of solar dryers and
problems associated with such facilities and cultural perceptions can pose a great deal of
challenge to be surmounted.
Although we have demonstrated that there is a need for researchers to undertake research on
food preservation methods, the question is who will benefit from the findings of such research
given that not many poor rural communities can offer research incentives to researchers to
undertake research into innovative and PV food drying technologies?
3.8. The Forms and Sizes of Food Crop Produce
One major problem associated with research products for food preservation is the forms and
food produce sizes. Form and size is important because different food produce require different
facilities and chemicals for preservation. This is because what one will require to preserve fruits
and tubers is different from what is required to preserve grains. The question that researchers
would bear in mind is if they are harmless, renewable chemicals that can preserve different
types of food crop produce. In addition to this, what would be the size and shape of solar dyers
for drying and preserving maize and tubers like potatoes in the rural areas etc.? We have
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demonstrated that most rural dwellers in rural areas are poor. We also know that investment in
food preservation products has to be recouped over time. Private and corporate investors in food
preservation in rural areas have to weigh the risks of political instability, short-term government
interventions on prices and other unpredictable events commonly associated with developing
nations.
3.9. Maintenance of Solar Dryers
Considering that the targeted population for food preservation in rural area are poor the
problems of maintenance of the preservation facility is crucial. This is because the food
preservation facility may not be a chemical but a solar powered facility. In such cases, the
problem will be the procurement of the spare parts to replace the old ones and who will
undertake such in a rural environment? These suggest that any food preservation facilities that
come out in the market have to conform to the inclusion and participation of the end users with
respect to maintenance plans, usage and transportation.
3.10.
Cultural Perceptions vis-à-vis New Facilities
Most people and particularly rural dwellers are skeptical about new facilities because of their
culture and / or religious beliefs, (Messinga et al 2002). In order to break the cultural perception
barriers, researchers in different regions of the world should interact with rural dwellers to
understand their food preservation customs and needs. For example in Bolivia solar dryers were
introduced with the full participation of the local residents and it was a success story because
there was a combination of new ideas and indigenous knowledge systems in the area. Similarly,
in Peru, solar dryers were used to dry coffee beans and it reduced lost by 25%, (Axtell et al
2002) By so doing the products or facilities that may eventually come out would not be seen as
a taboo and aliens to their belief systems. (Retbergen 2005).
4. CONCLUSION
In the preceding paragraphs we have demonstrated that food preservation in Ha-Makuya, a
remote rural settlement area in South Africa is stacked with traditional ways of food
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preservation methods. We have shown that food preservation is however, vital for their
sustainable livelihood in such rural areas. We have demonstrated that in Ha-Makuya and in
similar isolated rural settlements, the provision of on-grid power supply require investment and
most of the residents cannot afford refrigerators to preserve their food items. They rely on what
is termed “traditional means” of food preservation like solar drying of food, wind drying,
cooling under the shade, salting and smoking. The study showed that in as much as these means
of food preservations were laudable, they were not sufficient for preserving the bulk of food
produce until the next planting season and as a result of this most households encounter food
shortages. We have also shown that Ha-Makuya residents appreciate solar cabinets but a vast
majority of foods like sweet potatoes, and beans would need other forms of food preservation
facilities. It was also indicated that the limitations of the traditional means of food preservations
should be a challenge to renewable energy researchers to explore research into PV systems of
food preservation. We have emphasized research in renewable forms of food preservations
because subsistence rural farmers face difficulties with preserving food for a long time because
of lack of preservation and infrastructure to evacuate the food produce to markets before they
perish. The challenges to researchers pivot around the shape and size of the food preservation
facilities that should be adapted to the local conditions with the participation of the local
residents. This will be in addition to the competitiveness of the products, their acceptability and
adaptability under different cultural environments. This is why the sharing of ideas between
researchers and the local food producers and /or end users of solar dryers should be factored in.
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