Qualitative performance and economic analysis of low cost solar fish driers in Sub-Saharan Africa

Abstract

Qualitative performance and economic analysis of five low cost solar driers were evaluated at the Zoology and Physics Laboratories of the University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Nigeria. The solar driers were constructed from mosquito net, plastic, aluminum and glass with black stone inserted in it. The driers were found to be better than the other driers because they are cheap, reliable, safe to use, easy to repair, well insulated, and cost effective. The solar driers are compact, efficient with drying of fish with lowest moisture content achieved within a few days and the dried products of good quality, with long shelf life, highly acceptable to consumers. The driers save man-hour, money, use renewable energy, with no operational or maintenance costs. The driers have a long life span, with net income to fisher folks very high and the payback time for the driers very low. The adoption of the driers will contribute to the economy of rural populace in the developing countries where there is no electricity and the challenges of deforestation are becoming prominent. The improved low cost solar driers will ensure food safety and security and assist in combating climate change resulting from burning of wood and fossil fuel.

Quality Assessment of Dried Striped Dwarf Catfish, Mystus vittatus in the North-Eastern Region of Bangladesh

“…Nahar et al (2017) and Hasan et al (2018) also found higher fiber content in experimental sample in dried chepa and Tengra, respectively but the value of their studies was lower than the present findings. Lower fiber content was also reported in smoked Clarias gariepinus (0.25-0.60%), in electric oven dried Clarias gariepinus (0.98±0.01%) and in both solar dried C. gariepinus and O. nicotilus (<1.00% ) from the study of Okereke et al (2014), Chukwu and Shaba (2009) and Mustapha et al (2014), respectively. On the other hand, higher fiber content (4.79%) than the present study was estimated in dried O. niloticus by Oladipo and Bankole (2013).…”

Enhancement of nutritional quality and shelf life of fish products (powder & chapatti) via fortifying with orange‐fleshed sweet potato

“…According to Mustapha et al. ( 2014 ), the ash content of oven‐dried Nile tilapia fish powder was 13.42 g/100 g. Ash content in the fortified fish flatbread varied from 4.07 ± 0.03 to 9.65 ± 0.08 g/100 g and there were significant differences among them ( p ≤ .05) (Table 4 ). Even though the sample's ash content decreased as the OFSP content increased, all fortified fish breads are good sources of minerals.…”