Abstracts Oral Presentations - Solar Food Processing Network

International Solar Food Processing Conference 2009
Solar food processing in Afghanistan
Dipl.-Ing. Mohammad Sabur Achtari
Afghan Bedmoschk Solar Center e.V.
Im Käppelefeld 37
D-79189 Bad Krozingen
0049-7633-949706
m.s.achtari@web.de
Topics
Local solar food processing technologies
Solar food: quality measures and indicators
Examples of solar food projects: successes and hindrances
1. Introduction
The capital Kabul lies approx. 2300 m above sea level, on the edge of the Hindu Kush.
The weather in the course of the seasons is similar to that of central Europe, only much drier.
The intensive sunshine of 250 to 300 sunny days a year is a very good condition for the use
of solar energy. We have established our main centre for solar food process in Kabul and
from there we will enlarge our activities in all surrounding villages of Afghanistan.
Preference for presentation: Power point presentation and exhibit of packed dried
vegetables and dried fruits.
Drying fruit and vegetables:
People live on agriculture and sell the surplus of the cultivated wheat. Potatoes and onions
are grown to a lesser extent. Almost no machinery is available for agriculture: ploughs are
drawn by cows. In the recent years many families went over to growing fruit, as this provides
a better income. The fruit is often sold directly from the trees, however for a lower price than
for harvested fruit. People try to make use of the short fruit surplus during harvest time by
drying apples and apricots on their roofs. To a lesser extent people dry vegetables as a
winter stock. Except for drying no other methods of conservation are used.
Selling the agricultural products and vegetables (fruit) results in very little income.
2. Main conclusions
In August 2005, a solar dryer, of a tunnel type, was built. It uses direct solar radiation. To
create hot air in the collector part of the equipment with such design, a PV-driven fan
provides the necessary air-flow over the fruit. It has been tested drying apricots. The
handling of the drier is very similar to the traditional methods, as the fruit is simply spread on
a flat surface. In this drier, 7 kg of apricots are dried within 3 to 4 days. This is very similar to
the method, where the fruit is spread in open air. But the quality is much better through a
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