At least two new solar dryers worth of D22,000 (twenty-two thousand Dalasi) each was last Wednesday commissioned at the John Pickering Skills Training Centre in Lamin Daranka, at a ceremony held at the centre’s permises.

The solar dryers’ design was made in The Gambia by Fred Vanhessen, a Dutch citizen. It’s made up of a huge plywood box with a sloping part called ‘collector’ which the sun heats the air before it flows through the box.  It’s also equipped with two solar fans in the roof that fan the air through the drying cabinet.

Speaking at the ceremony, Fred Vanhessen, Designer of the machine, said the idea of coming up with this technology emanated from the fact that 80 percent of mangoes in West Africa gets spoiled, noting that there is an increasing demand for dried mangoes in Europe.

He revealed that the machine has a capacity to contain 35kgs of fresh cut mangoes and about 50kgs of raw uncut mangoes.

Commissioning the dryers, on behalf of the Governor of Western Region, Alhagie Demba Sanyang, Chief of Kombo North, lauded the initiative, adding that it could not have come at a better moment than this when his district is realising massive spoilage of mangoes during the season. He assured them that the initiative will go a long towards preserving the mangoes for other consumptions.

Kalifa Jobe, Director of the Skills Centre, who introduced Fred to the Centre expressed similar sentiment.

The ceremony was attended by local farmers and a cross section of the community.