Food and income loss caused by conventional open-sun drying of crops could be reduced
through the use of protected solar drying equipment. Yet, solar dryers have not been widely
adopted among the majority 470 million smallholder farms worldwide. Combining primary
survey and field data on dried chili harvests collected in India, this paper demonstrates for
the first time how technical, financial, and operational barriers combine to limit smallholder
ownership of commercially available hoophouse tunnel dryers. It then addresses those …