UMUAGWO, IMO STATE- September 18, 2026 — ColdHubs Limited has highlighted the practical role of renewable energy in food preservation, income protection and livelihood resilience at a workshop held at the University of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences (UAES), Umuagwo, Imo State.
The workshop, convened by Ugoada Ikoro, a researcher from the University of California, Davis, brought together predominantly women, student researchers, undergraduates and other participants to explore the intersection of agriculture, renewable energy and sustainable livelihoods.
Representing ColdHubs, Chiamaka Animba, Communications and Information Systems Manager, delivered a lecture titled “Beyond Energy: Turning Renewable Power into Food Security, Income and Resilient Livelihoods.”
The session examined how renewable energy can be applied beyond electricity generation to address practical challenges across the agricultural value chain.
Beyond Energy: Connecting Renewable Power to Food Preservation
A key focus of the presentation was the relationship between reliable energy and food security, particularly the role of cold-chain infrastructure in reducing post-harvest losses.
For farmers and traders dealing with fresh produce, fish, meat and other perishables, inadequate refrigeration can result in products deteriorating before they reach consumers. This can translate into lost income for businesses and reduced availability of food within local markets.
Renewable energy offers an opportunity to address part of this challenge.
Through its solar-powered cold-storage solutions, ColdHubs demonstrates how energy generated from the sun can be used to power refrigeration and ice-making systems that help preserve perishable food.
The discussion emphasised that the value of renewable energy extends beyond the electricity it produces.
When renewable energy powers cold-chain infrastructure, it can also help protect food, preserve economic value and support the livelihoods of people working across the food system.
From Energy Access to Income Protection
For smallholder farmers and food traders, food preservation is closely connected to income.
When perishable products deteriorate before they are sold, the financial loss extends beyond the value of the food itself. It can represent lost labour, transportation costs, purchasing costs and working capital.
Access to appropriate cold storage can give farmers and traders more time to preserve products and make decisions about when and where to sell them.
This is particularly relevant in agricultural communities where unreliable electricity can make conventional refrigeration difficult or expensive to operate.
By combining solar energy with cold-storage technology, renewable energy can therefore become part of a broader strategy for improving the resilience of food businesses.
Empowering Women Through Sustainable Solutions
With women making up a significant proportion of the workshop participants, the discussion also explored the importance of accessible and sustainable technologies for agricultural communities.
Women play important roles throughout food value chains, including production, processing, trading and distribution.
When food losses occur, these losses can directly affect the businesses and household incomes connected to those activities.
Providing access to practical technologies that help preserve agricultural products can therefore contribute to stronger and more resilient livelihoods.
The workshop also provided an opportunity for participants to ask questions, exchange perspectives and consider how renewable energy solutions can be adapted to local agricultural realities.
Connecting Academia, Research and Industry
Beyond the lecture itself, the workshop created a platform for knowledge exchange between academia, researchers, students and industry practitioners.
For ColdHubs, these connections are important to developing practical solutions that respond to the realities of African food systems.
Academic research can help generate new knowledge.
Industry experience can demonstrate how technologies perform in real-world environments.
And engagement with students and young researchers can create opportunities for the next generation to contribute to solving challenges around agriculture, energy and food security.
Bringing these perspectives together can support the development of solutions that are not only technologically viable but also relevant to the communities that will use them.
Renewable Energy as a Tool for Food-System Resilience
The discussion at UAES reinforced a broader point: the renewable-energy conversation is not only about producing electricity.
It is also about what that electricity makes possible.
For agriculture, renewable energy can support irrigation, processing, refrigeration, cold storage and other activities that contribute to food production and distribution.
For food businesses, reliable energy can help protect products and reduce operational disruptions.
For communities, appropriate renewable-energy solutions can contribute to more resilient local economies.
ColdHubs’ participation in the workshop reflects its continued commitment to demonstrating practical applications of renewable energy within the food system.
As Africa works to strengthen food security while responding to climate and energy challenges, connecting clean energy with food preservation offers one practical pathway.
Because renewable energy is not only about keeping the lights on. It can also help keep food fresh, protect incomes and strengthen the livelihoods built around agriculture.