Green Technologies to Facilitate Development of Value Chains
for Perishable Crops and Animal Products

4.1. History and Results

Early in 2020 IFAD expanded its operations in Tanzania and asked SunDanzer to return the Tanzanian smallholder dairy sector to the scope of the GreenTech program after previously being removed. In April Simusolar was approached to be SunDanzer’s in-country partner. In August, a distribution agreement was signed with a two-fold product focus: 160L milk coolers as well as ice makers for artisanal fisheries sector around Lake Victoria. In October, the GreenTech Project Manager spent two weeks in Tanzania on a scouting mission, assisted by consultant Neema Shukuru from Nexis Africa. The mission included visiting women’s dairy cooperatives in Kilimanjaro and fishing communities on the islands of Lake Victoria near Mwanza.

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After the initial scouting trip, the next step was to commission Ms. Shukuru to conduct a detailed market assessment with the following objectives: 1. identify and size viable market niches for fridges, freezers and/or ice makers, 2. identify 40 potential pilot project installations (20 in the smallholder dairy sector, 20 in the artisanal fisheries sector), 3. identify the products and product requirements for the market, 4. lay the groundwork for follow-on sales as well as a sales and marketing strategy, and 5. fulfill the IFAD requirement for a Market Needs, KAP and Technology Assessment report. The GreenTech Project Manager returned in May 2021 to accompany and assist Ms. Shukuru and her research team in the field.  In late July, Ms. Shukuru delivered the Tanzania Market Needs, KAP and Technology Assessment report. Based on the findings, three products were chosen to be piloted in Tanzania: 1) 160 liter freezers for fisheries, 2) 160 liter milk coolers for dairy, and 3) 160 liter shop fridges for both market segments. The visit to the Lake Zone revealed that the proposed ice maker was too expensive and produced too little ice to be a viable product.

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In the late Summer and Fall of 2021, Simusolar worked on integrating their proprietary PAYG system with SunDanzer fridges/freezers and technology partner Zimpertec developed a custom enclosure that would house more battery storage for freezer applications. In November, product was shipped from China and cleared customs in January 2022. In February 2022, the GreenTech Project Manager was back-in country to assist in the product launch. Sales and installation training was conducted and sales, installation and technical support materials created. Demonstration freezers were set up at Simusolar headquarters in Dar es Salaam and regional offices in Arusha, Morogoro and Mwanza. The first fridge, a shop cooler, was installed at a Masai village at the Nasinya women’s dairy cooperative. It was soon apparent the organization was very challenged to take on a completely new product line. The lessons learned were captured in the report entitled Preparing for Solar Refrigeration Pilots in the Artisanal Fisheries Sectors of Rwanda, Tanzania and Mozambique.

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4.2. Current Status

The rest of 2022 was spent slowly selling the remaining 41 pilot systems. The organization had a difficult time understanding and selling these new and relatively complex products. It was found the sales organization kept gravitating to products they knew, even though the commissions and incentives were lesser. They lacked the sophistication to understand who could benefit and to communicate how the product could be used to increase income. Concurrently, there was relatively weak demand from the market for the products. It took broadening the market by making all Productive Use applications eligible (not just fisheries and dairy) and a concerted sales push in the last quarter of 2022 and first quarter of 2023 to sell out the inventory. As of late March, there have been a few minor technical issues and overall customer satisfaction and evidence of significant increases of income. Insights and analysis are captured in a Fridge Sales Project Report by Neema Shukuru, who was hired by Simusolar to project manage the pilot.

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A Scope of Work was developed to guide post pilot research investigating is scheduled for August 2023. It will investigate customer satisfaction, income impact, payment history and technical performance. Ms. Shukuru has again been retained to conduct 20 in-person in-depth surveys and conduct 20 interviews over the phone.