Synnefa – Solidaridad

Investing in Impact

P4G has awarded the partnership with about US $300,000 in grant funding.

Every year, farmers across Africa lose 30-50% of their harvest due to inefficient drying methods. Traditional open-air sun drying takes 10-14 days, exposing crops to contamination from dust, pests and unexpected rainfall. These losses not only impact farmers' income but also contribute to food insecurity and reduced market opportunities. For smallholder farmers, accessing modern drying technology has been prohibitively expensive, leaving them trapped in a cycle of post-harvest losses.

The Synnefa – Solidaridad partnership will scale IoT-enabled smart solar dryers for 800 smallholder farmers in Kenya. This climate-smart technology enhances drying efficiency by 54%, reduces drying time from weeks to just 2–3 days and cuts post-harvest losses by 45%. By improving processing for mango, peanut and coffee value chains, the dryers increase farmer incomes, strengthen resilience to climate shocks and open new export opportunities.

Synnefa is an agritech company pioneering solutions that address the challenges of smallholder farmers in Africa. Its integrated hardware and software innovations, including Smart Greenhouses, FarmShield IoT, FarmCloud and Smart Solar Dryers, help farmers manage water scarcity, boost yields and reduce food waste. To date, Synnefa’s technologies have helped over 7,000 farmers with its Smart Solar Dryers preventing losses across coffee, grains, vegetable and fruit sectors, and digital tools like FarmCloud supporting real-time decision-making with agronomic and climate data.

Solidaridad brings more than 50 years of expertise in creating sustainable and inclusive supply chains. Working globally across diverse value chains. In Kenya, Solidaridad partners with national and county governments, research institutions and private sector actors to ensure alignment with agricultural policy, strengthen farmer capacity and advance climate-resilient production systems.

During the partnership period, the partnership will advocate for financial incentives and supportive regulations, raise awareness among farmer cooperatives and youth enterprises, and validate the impact of solar drying technologies. Synnefa will deploy IoT-enabled smart solar dryers through a rent-to-own model for farmer cooperatives and a Dry-as-a-Service model for 10 youth enterprises, enabling income generation while ensuring accessibility and long-term sustainability. 

Solidaridad will train farmers on climate-smart agricultural practices and post-harvest handling, promote youth inclusion and facilitate access to finance. Leveraging its farmer network, Solidaridad will also raise awareness on solar drying benefits and influence the formulation of supportive policies and standards for post-harvest infrastructure. Together, the partnership aims to deliver an end-to-end solution combining technology deployment, policy advocacy, financing and capacity building to remove barriers and drive the adoption of smart solar dryers.

Synnefa seeks to raise US $2 million in seed funding by 2026 to scale its solutions to 150,000 farmers across East Africa. This expansion will help prevent more than 50,000 metric tons of food loss, create employment opportunities for youth-led enterprises, and cut thousands of metric tons of CO₂ emissions linked to wasted harvests.

The partnership comprises the following partners: Synnefa Green Limited (lead business partner); Solidaridad (lead administrative partner).