By Monika Goforth | Executive Director
Two dehydrators in the community of Quixaya, Guatemala are keeping rural families healthy. Jose Armando, president of the organic agricultural cooperative, K'uxy'a has been utilizing the dehydrators to make natural medicine and healthy tonics for his family members after COVID hurt their business.
Jose Armando shared some fascinating experiments that show his creativity as a small scale organic farmer. Unable to travel to market during COVID, harvests needed to be dried to avoid waste. Jose Armando dried lemons, pineapple and soursop and ground them into powder to add to water as a refreshing drink or tea. "I use a processor to grind the dried fruit so they keep for a long time," he said. "I use them medicinally, for my family, soursop heals the kidneys and stomach..."
Jose Armando has also been making a small income producing gluten-free flour with taro roots, dried and powdered for restaurants nearby. "They make good pancakes!"
These dehydrators have now been in use by Quixaya farmers for over 4 years, proving the concept. They have informed us of the design strengths and weaknesses and will inform the work of our engineering student, Noe, as he designs a larger scale dehydrator.
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