ZECC: Zero Energy Cooling Chamber for Vegetables

Cut Post-Harvest Losses for Vegetables

The Zero Energy Cooling Chamber (ZECC) is a brick chamber that cools through evaporation. It has double walls with sand in between, and the walls are kept wet for cooling. This chamber can reach temperatures between 10 and 15°C with about 95% humidity, which helps extend the shelf life of perishable crops.

This technology is pre-validated.

9•8

Scaling readiness: idea maturity 9/9; level of use 8/9

Adults 18 and over: Positive high

The poor: Positive low

Under 18: Positive high

Women: Positive high

Climate adaptability: Highly adaptable

Farmer climate change readiness: Significant improvement

Carbon footprint: Much less carbon released

Environmental health: Greatly improves environmental health

Water use: More water used

Problem

High Perishability of Fruits and Vegetables: Fruits and vegetables are highly perishable commodities. Without proper storage and preservation methods, they can spoil quickly, leading to significant post-harvest losses.
Significant Post-Harvest Losses: It is estimated that up to 50% of fruits and vegetables never reach the consumers’ table because of post-harvest losses. This not only results in a significant amount of food waste but also negatively impacts the income of farmers and other value chain actors.
Decreased Availability of Nutrient-Dense Foods: One of the implications of post-harvest losses is the decreased availability of fruits and vegetables for consumers. This deprives them of accessing nutrient-dense and protective foods, impacting their health and nutrition.
Lack of Electricity: Many rural areas do not have reliable access to electricity, which is typically required for refrigeration and other forms of food preservation.
High Cost and Inaccessibility of Cooling Technologies: Traditional cooling technologies can be expensive and may not be readily available, especially to farmers in rural areas.

Solution

Extended Shelf Life: ZECC extends the shelf life of vegetables (e.g., up to 8 more days for tomatoes, 11 days for peppers, 5 days for amaranth), reducing spoilage.
Reduced Post-Harvest Losses: By preserving produce longer, ZECC helps ensure more fruits and vegetables reach consumers, decreasing food waste and boosting farmers' income.
Increased Availability of Nutrient-Dense Foods: With extended shelf life, ZECC increases the availability of nutrient-dense foods for consumers, supporting better health and nutrition.
No Electricity Required: ZECC operates without electricity, making it suitable for rural areas with unreliable power supply.
Affordable Cooling Technology: ZECC is a low-cost and accessible cooling solution, ideal for farmers in rural and low-resource areas.

Key points to design your program

In the near future, this section will provide an overview of this technology's success in various contexts, details on partners offering technical support, training, and implementation monitoring, along with other valuable insights for your projects and programs. These details will be added progressively.

In the meantime, use the 'Request information' button if you need to contact us.

Cost: $$$ 1200 USD

a chamber for 250 kg of tomato

ROI: $$$ 21.46 %

over 3 year

10 – 15 degree celsius

temperature inside ZECC

1500 USD

Extra-income over 3 years

IP

Open source / open access

Scaling Readiness describes how complete a technology’s development is and its ability to be scaled. It produces a score that measures a technology’s readiness along two axes: the level of maturity of the idea itself, and the level to which the technology has been used so far.

Each axis goes from 0 to 9 where 9 is the “ready-to-scale” status. For each technology profile in the e-catalogs we have documented the scaling readiness status from evidence given by the technology providers. The e-catalogs only showcase technologies for which the scaling readiness score is at least 8 for maturity of the idea and 7 for the level of use.

The graph below represents visually the scaling readiness status for this technology, you can see the label of each level by hovering your mouse cursor on the number.

Scaling readiness score of this technology

Maturity of the idea 9 out of 9

Uncontrolled environment: validated

Level of use 8 out of 9

Used by some intended users, in the real world

Maturity of the idea										Level of use
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9

Countries with a green colour: Tested & adopted
Countries with a bright green colour: Adopted
Countries with a yellow colour: Tested
Countries with a blue colour: Testing ongoing

Countries where the technology is being tested or has been tested and adopted
Country	Testing ongoing	Tested	Adopted
Benin	–No ongoing testing	Tested	Adopted
Burkina Faso	–No ongoing testing	Tested	–Not adopted
Ghana	–No ongoing testing	Tested	–Not adopted
Mali	–No ongoing testing	Tested	Adopted
Rwanda	–No ongoing testing	Tested	–Not adopted
Tanzania	–No ongoing testing	Tested	Adopted

This technology can be used in the colored agro-ecological zones. Any zones shown in white are not suitable for this technology.

Agro-ecological zones where this technology can be used
AEZ	Subtropic - cool	Tropic - cool
Arid	–	–
Semiarid	–	–
Subhumid	–	–
Humid	–	–

Source: HarvestChoice/IFPRI 2009

The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals that are applicable to this technology.

Goal 1: no poverty

Goal 2: zero hunger

Goal 3: good health and well-being

Goal 12: responsible production and consumption

Once the ZECC is set up, follow these steps to store your fresh produces (vegetables and/or fruits):

Set up the ZECC following this steps
Harvest your produce early in the morning or late in the afternoon.
Sort and clean your produce.
Place the cleaned produce in plastic crates.
Cover the crates with a white wax cloth and place them in the ZECC under a shed covered with plant leaves.
Cover the ZECC with a jute cloth or a wet cotton cloth.
Water the ZECC 2 to 3 times per day.
Check the quality of the stored produce every three days.
Rehumidify the jute or cotton cloth as needed.

Downloads

Construction_ZECC.pdf (PDF, 725.09 KB)
Evidence Of Maturity 1.pdf (PDF, 1.06 MB)
Evidence Of Maturity 2.pdf (PDF, 196.68 KB)

Last updated on 14 July 2025

World Vegetable Center
Mathieu Ayenan

Commodities

Vegetable crop

Sustainable Development Goals Details ›

+ 1 more

Subcategory

Conservation and Storage System

Value chain step

Prevention & storage

Solution

Post-harvest management

Tested/adopted in Details ›

Countries with a green colour: Tested & adopted
Countries with a bright green colour: Adopted
Countries with a yellow colour: Tested
Countries with a blue colour: Testing ongoing

Where it can be used Details ›

This technology can be used in the colored agro-ecological zones.

Target groups

Farmers Sellers

ZECC: Zero Energy Cooling Chamber for Vegetables

Problem

Solution

Key points to design your program

Cost: $$$ 1200 USD

ROI: $$$ 21.46 %

10 – 15 degree celsius

1500 USD

IP