Keeping Crops Cool: fascinating field fridges in Africa

Fresh-picked vegetables and fruits last longer if they can be kept cool. African farmers use 'charcoal coolers' to store their crops before packing. Could you make a fridge with pieces of wood, some netting, a length of pipe and some charcoal? Find out who does and how the technology works.
Find out more about farming on the LEAF Virtual Farm Walk website, www.virtualfarmwalk.org

[@domainmojo2162]

Great seeing this again! We have a farm here in South Africa, and when I was young(about 40 years ago) - and we had just recently acquired the farm, my father built this same contraption as a temporary cooling solution until we could get in the electricity and freezers- just on a smaller scale to keep things cool around the farmstead. The wood that he used was a porous wood that was very light and of course, he used charcoal as well. The wood was of the same type as you would find, when you submerged wood into water for years and then letting the sun dry it out. In his build, the charcoal and the wood were enclosed in chicken wire and there were 2 pipes that ran around the enclosure- situated at the very top and in the middle of the enclosure, with regularly space holes at the bottom of the pipes where water would trickle down . The top and bottom of the thing he fitted out with foil to trap the cold. Finally, it was submerged in a chamber of clay(he used mud, shaped it, dried it out and blasted it with fire from a blowtorch to make it extra hard and reflective) to keep the temps down. It worked so well, we kept using it even after the freezers were added- and he later added something (can't remember what exactly- think it was one of these home-made wind turbines that you find on house roofs) that trapped any wind and sent it down into the chamber to further cool it.

[@2okaycola]

Cool

[@colsmith7257]

You now long it took to find someone using this technology in reality. Thankyou, you people are so wise. We in the west have lost all such wisdom. My friend grew up in the Australia outback and was taught by his uncle to build a smaller version, he claims it allmost reached freezing point. The world needs doers not leaders. Thank you again.

[@archiefisher4131]

@North American KZbinr how humid?

[@JS-zb1vv]

Great job. The world can learn so much from rural areas in the world. Technology isn’t always the best .

[@anisharakesh2724]

Very impressive techniques. Is it possible to build houses or even a just a room to sleep using this technique?

[@timothyrenfro9659]

Genius! Crop storage is a huge problem in rural areas. My father drills wells in Malawian villages... Im sure they could benefit from this. Thanks for posting.

[@naleenidas8444]

Hope you solved your problems in Malawi, Tim. Bless all of you 😍

[@truthseeker9688]

So good to see simple, effective solutions to problems. I just wish that they could have showed the termperature difference.

[@lynneturner3704]

This is awesome, It would be great to show one being built.

[@DoctorRossPerry]

Well done and showing inspired leadership. Ross Perry

[@chrisem79]

Wow!! So cost effective, innovative and doable!! Thank You for the inspiration

[@rda2890]

Really great technology Sincere regards from India to Africa. 🙏

[@wuodthelimu]

Very well put ,Wango.I like the presentations and innowations

[@farmbott8725]

That's really impressive.. Thanks for posting..

[@joannerichards1967]

Wow i love it! Thank you for the share from Alberta, Canada

[@hubertrobinson8825]

You learn as you live everyday is new lesson learned

[@sappysamurai5170]

So clever. We can learn from this. Thank you

[@johng5295]

Thanks in a million. Awesome.

[@RiverPlaid]

Wonderful video 🌸

[@mahlet3570]

Wonderful technology. I'd love to see more of this!

[@genkiferal7178]

me. too. I had hoped for more detail. at least I learned something new, though.

[@mohammedakram6376]

Thank u

[@nishp8202]

Very nice presentation and technique

[@nothinghere1996]

very cool indeed. pun not intended. is the charcoal activated? actiavted charcoal has many more fissures, and more surface area. just heat it up and spray with cold water. the thermal. shock will do the work. beautifully done. well done.

[@janetgarratt1251]

Incredible

[@jessebarlow1277]

Came for the fridges, stayed for Virginia Wango :)

[@aprilarmijo6967]

Awesome!❤️

[@mattski1979]

Unreal and outstanding. Great video. I subscribed.

[@teddypgray]

She is so cute!

[@candytripn]

I've just discovered this and am pretty amazed. How much does this lower the temperature? Would love to know what the average temperature in the fridge is compared to the temperature outside. Pretty amazing!

[@green-shoots]

+candytripn Glad you enjoyed the film. This technique can reduce the temperature inside the store by as much as 10 degrees centigrade, compared to the outside temperature. The same technique is being used for air conditioning systems in India.

[@KarpoCottage]

That's so cool!

[@PascalineMcclinton-zi7yl]

Brilliant

[@wheturangi]

Its a massive swamp cooler. Great idea.

[@richardmullins1883]

Freakin' awesome!

[@TTiop124]

Love Farmers all over the World..its Godly..

[@vociferonheraldofthewinter2284]

This may actually be the solution for keeping chickens in the Arizona desert. I've been playing with ideas for shade, airflow, fans, and so much more. They all cost so much to operate or to build that it's not worth keeping chickens at all. Any idea how much lower the temps average when compared to the ambient temperature outside? Even 20 degrees can make the difference between life and death.

[@btheophilusmambu7167]

Amazing!! Thanks. We are going to try it in Liberia

[@Co2Fe3]

Ciao Mambu, I'n interest in your experience with the low-energy coolign systems, can we connect somehow? e-mail? skype?

[@euniemumba7888]

Good initiative

[@jackp492]

awesome

[@minervafelix3991]

Dios bendiga y guarde a los Africanos, gente, buena y trabajadora.

[@pramodkumargermanrefrigeration]

Regards from oman 🇴🇲

[@CoolBreezeAnthony]

Shared.

[@happytosee1]

you are amazing

[@betskie1]

Nice technology

[@hippieHawk]

Does the water recirculate ,have you experimented with sand or rocks and position facing and location as well as shape of the structure?

[@mefougner]

What is the internal temperature of the cooler?

[@IrishWebDesign]

Interesting. What is the temperature within?

[@FungiFrenzy]

Thank you so much for the presentation and the knowledge, pls how long will vegetables mast inside this cold room before deteriorating

[@anchorpoint3631]

Should last almost a week. At least in clay pot "fridges"

[@dougsdiggings9127]

Amazing video thank you. Did they make their own charcoal ?

[@kim1570]

Yes, its in the rural areas so they most likely do.

[@mametja2258]

It easy to make charcoal I've seen other villagers doing thier own charcoal

[@alwayslearning7672]

What temperature does it get down to?

[@coenmuller6438]

what benefit does the charcoal have? does the charcoal heat faster?

[@attilarivera]

👏👏👏👏👏👏👏

[@georgeomenya2624]

Good piece. Do you have a training manual for this? We have an agribusiness and food security program in my village and we are looking for ways of increasing the Shelflife of products.

[@green-shoots]

+George Omenya Glad you enjoyed the film. Sorry but we don't have a training manual for the charcoal fridge. Good luck in your search.

[@colsmith7257]

George just build one, you will learn as you go. Next the UN will be selling one, then your be in debt because of all the western shameless luxury that goes on with them. Then the west will send in its company's to help you pay back the debt by making you borrow more money and so on. Just like the old days except your people will be slaves in their own backyard. No that's not right, your politicians would of given it to the nice business men with those foreign bank account details. Sorry for my reality George, all the best, have you looked at aquaponics www.aquaponics.net.au This guy is crazy about it, if you could get some hypocritical western energy mob to give you solar system to run it, well good luck

[@genkiferal7178]

A tutorial video could help millions of people and also be good for the environment.

[@antonykaranja7166]

What's the size of the rooms

[@kubendharvs]

how many days we can keep our vegetables inside without getting damaged?

[@wanzueni]

wow nitajaribu

[@chriswong8659]

Show temperature reading please

[@kim1570]

Kenya is Africa 🤣 I like that.

[@talpalatnyizold]

I'd like to see how effective is it? How much the temperature inside and outside?

[@christinavanderwalt2114]

my mother in law used this method when they where small

[@anchorpoint3631]

@@christinavanderwalt2114 ok....

[@faard]

Canning in mason jars.

[@Janu-butt]

Its a Long Time Charcoal or After few months you change the Charcoal?

[@Incal03]

Nice Idea but can you use salty water ?(for countries near the sea)

[@squids706]

yo

[@fasorantio1]

can someone tell me how to make this please??

[@stellalavinandube3525]

Me

[@joedee1863]

Imagine this structure being round for better air flow ? and with a deep brick pit in the middle where cooler air sinks to lower levels ...

[@skillmeup53]

I thought I saw something like that from Persia. They had some type of cooler towers with the lower level for keeping goods cool.

[@user-ky9ws5zd2e]

Cool stor in said digre

[@foodfordays]

would love to know if anyone has ever tried using any other rocks instead of charcoal? would it have the same effect? thankyou very much !

[@jacovandenberg6923]

This was a very common sight on farms back in the day in South Africa. Except they were usually built out of brick. And yes any pores stone would work. You just need something that will allow the water the pass though slowly.

[@anchorpoint3631]

Sand

[@impermissa]

So it’s basically a building that can sweat. Cool

[@angelise3188]

🥺🙂🙂🙂💕

[@nareshlathia5334]

Throw out the high energy machines out.

[@thuglife1628]

🧢 or hair?

[@MyFriendlyPup]

Why is it built so poorly? I'd take some pride in the build

[@malaysiadecou72]

I know for a fact that shxt hot af😂😂

[@devono7230]

What temperature is it inside and out ?