Development and Performance Evaluation of a Solar Powered Tomatoes Storage Chamber

Abstract Fresh vegetables and fruits, most of which are perishable, are known to be good sources of nutrients supplements with health benefits. Tomatoes fruits fall into this category of food supplements. However, the post-harvest losses associated with tomatoes fruits have greatly reduced the profitability of its farming and have even scared some farmers away from producing it. To reduce the losses and encourage tomatoes farming, this study designed, constructed, and evaluated the performance of a solar-powered electronic storage chamber for tomatoes fruits. In the performance evaluation, the weight, firmness, ripening index, and rate of spoilage of tomatoes fruits stored, within six weeks, at room temperature and atmospheric humidity and in the storage chamber were analyzed and compared per week. The results showed that the weight and firmness of the test experiment deteriorated by 24.87% and 20.83% respectively while that of the control experiment deteriorated by 50.59% and 79.68% respectively. Also, the percentage of cumulative spoilage for the test and control experiment was estimated to be 23.32 and 68.84 respectively showing a significant reduction in the rate of spoilage when the tomatoes were stored in the chamber.