Tackling Post-Harvest Losses in Kenya

This semester, I visited Kisumu, Kenya with my EDSGN454 class. This class was a continuation of EDSGN 452 and 453, Design for Developing Communities, which I took during the spring semester. In the spring, my team worked on a solution to post-harvest losses in Kenya, and the Maymester was to be used to test this solution and continue our research on the ground. The solution that we came up with was an application that would connect farmers to the people that transport produce to the market. While on the ground, we spent a lot of time visiting farms and markets in order to learn more about this value chain, as well as where the largest majority of losses occur.

This experience was very important, because a solution to this problem could seriously impact the lives of many people. Post-harvest losses cause approximately 50% of produce to spoil before it reaches the market, which can lead to a significant impact on a farmer’s income and well-being. This semester, we learned a lot more about the post-harvest losses problem and if our application would help to reduce this issue. We learned that our app wouldn’t reduce post-harvest losses, but it would improve efficiency of the value chain and eliminate the middleman. This would decrease costs to the farmer and transporter and increase their income, which will make their lives easier.

The in-class component of this class allowed me to learn a lot more about what needs to go into starting and running a successful business. I believe that this information is very important to learn as an engineer, but it is not something that we are taught as part of the engineering curriculum. We also spent a lot of time in class researching the problem, and we had to get creative when doing this, because it is hard to find information on rural farms in Africa online. While on the ground, we were able to obtain a lot more information in a much shorter amount of time. The component of this course that was spent abroad was so important, because it allowed us to speak with the people who are facing these problems and adjust our solution so that it will really fits their needs.

The most important thing I learned from this experience is how much research needs to go into the problem before a successful solution can be formed. Additionally, I learned how important it is to speak with the people who are affected by the problem and receive feedback from them regarding the solution. Before travelling to Kenya, we thought we had a solution to post-harvest losses, only to find out that our application wouldn’t reduce post-harvest losses at all. After I graduate in August, I will be working as a process engineer for ExxonMobil. I think that this experience will help me realize that the solution isn’t always as obvious as it seems and that the problem should be researched thoroughly before coming up with a solution. Also, this experience has provided me with a better business understanding which will help me succeed in my career as well. Finally, this class has encouraged me to continue pursuing experiences in humanitarian engineering around the world.