Solar drying of mangoes: preservation of an important source of vitamin A in French-speaking West Africa.

Vitamin A deficiency, which is especially widespread among children younger than age 5 years, is a major barrier to reducing child mortality rates in French-speaking West Africa. A large amount of an indigenous plant source of provitamin A carotenoids are lost to postharvest waste. For example, the postharvest loss of mangoes in the region exceeds an annual total of 100,000 metric tons. In our study, 3.75 metric tons of fresh mangoes were dried using a solar dryer to a final moisture content of 10% to 12%, yielding a total of 360 kg dried mango. The product analysis revealed 4,000+/-500 microg beta carotene/100 g and 3,680+/-150 microg beta carotene/100 g after 2 and 6 months of storage, respectively. Thus, one greenhouse solar dryer is capable of reducing postharvest mango waste by 3.75 tons providing up to 1.15 million retinol activity equivalents of dietary vitamin A. The use of this technology that requires solar energy and manpower has the potential of increasing dietary vitamin A supply by up to 27,000-fold, compared to the currently available vitamin A in the region. Moreover, mango is a fruit that is well-liked by the population in this geographic area increasing the likelihood of its ready acceptance. Reducing postharvest loss of mangoes by using greenhouse model solar dryers is a promising strategy to help combat vitamin A deficiency in French-speaking West Africa.