Cold rooms powered by solar energy. This is one idea to improve vegetable preservation in markets in The Gambia. This solution is now being adopted by the Kanifing Municipal Council (KMC) in the west of The Gambia. The municipality has launched a project to equip several markets in the city. Work has started in Serekunda market, where a solar-powered cold room was recently inaugurated.
For Musu Meta Manneh, the representative of the Serekunda vegetable sellers, this is “one of the biggest projects ever received at the Serekunda market and this wonderful project will greatly help to reduce the losses we suffer on a daily basis”. She said this at the inauguration ceremony of the cold storage room at Serekunda Market, which cost 615,800 dalasis, or more than $11,800, to build.
KMC plans to install solar-powered cold rooms in 18 other markets in Kanifing city. “We understand that the women in the market have suffered huge losses due to the Covid pandemic.19 We understand that the women in the market have suffered huge losses due to the Covid pandemic.19 This project is part of my government’s efforts to help the Gambia’s economic recovery,” says David Belgrove, the British High Commissioner to the Gambia.
His presence at the inauguration ceremony of the solar-powered cold storage facility at Serekunda market was not insignificant. The British government is supporting this ecological project of the Kanifing municipality.
Jean Marie Takouleu