Review of solar drying technology for agricultural crops

Increasing population, climate change and post harvest losses lead to scarcity of food particularly in developing countries. Improvement in storage facilities and drying of crops are utmost need of hour. Various types of solar driers have been developed worldwide, but could not be adopted by the small farmers due to various reasons. In the present study, development of direct, indirect and mixed modes solar driers have been discussed. The review revealed that most of the solar driers have been developed only for particular crops, due to which the solar drier could not be used throughout the year making these driers costly and out of the reach of small farmers. None of the solar driers so far developed has temperature regulator system due to which the solar drier could not be used for drying of various fruits and vegetables.