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Expand a Proven Food Storage Solution in Rural Mali
Training households to build and use clay pot coolers
reducing food loss and improving access to nutritious vegetables
Food Storage Challenges
In many rural areas of Mali, families face a simple constraint with real consequences: vegetables spoil before they can be eaten or sold.
Without refrigeration:
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Food purchased or harvested spoils
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Decreased access to nutritious foods
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Families make additional trips to the market
Small improvements in shelf-life can save time and money while improving the availability of vegetables in the household.
Mariame Sogoba assembling a clay pot cooler in Niamey, Niger
A Proven, Low-Cost Solution
Clay pot coolers are simple, off-grid devices that use evaporative cooling to extend vegetable shelf-life without electricity.
They are:
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Built using locally available materials
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Affordable for low-income households
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Easy to construct, use, and maintain
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Able to significantly extend the shelf-life of vegetables
CoolVeg's training program provides households, farmers, and vendors with the information needed to build and use these effective devices.
Demonstrated Results
Over 8,000 households have been trained in prior programs.
In Mali and Niger:
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~88% of trainees are still using a clay pot cooler one year after training began
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These households built and paid for their own coolers
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Clay pot cooler users reported an average of 62% fewer trips to the market and 74 minutes per week saved
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95% of users reported having less food loss
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85% of users reported eating more vegetables
An estimated 35,000 households are now using clay pot coolers.
Training participants assembling a clay pot cooler in Maradi, Niger
This Phase of Implementation
Expanding the Training Model
A central objective of this program is to train more than 5,000 households in the Segou region of Mali on how to make and use clay pot coolers.
We will measure:
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Diffusion of clay pot coolers beyond direct trainees
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Cost per household sustained adopter
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Changes in vegetable consumption
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Changes in food loss
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Changes in time spent traveling to the market
The majority of the activities will take place through our proven village-level training with adults. In this phase, we will also pilot our training program in 5 schools in the **TBD** commune of Segou. This portion of the project will allow us to evaluate whether schools are a cost-effective and practical pathway for future expansion.
We will publish a summary of the project outcomes, including cost and outcome data, regardless of results.
Kadidia Nienta conducting a clay pot cooler training at the Anya-Lobo Cooperative Society in Mopti, Mali.
What Your Support Will Fund
How Your Support Will Be Used
This $100,000–$150,000 Mali phase supports:
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Training of Trainers workshops
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Village-level training sessions for adult
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A school-based clay pot cooler training pilot
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Awareness campaign through rural radio and social media
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Baseline and follow-up data collection
This program is led and managed by CoolVeg. All funds are directed to Institut d'Economie Rurale (IER) for implementation in Mali.
Frequently Asked Questions
Contribute to This Initiative
This program expands a proven training program while strengthening the evidence needed for effective scaling.
If you want to support a practical intervention that households adopt themselves, your gift can help expand this work in Mali.
This program expands a proven training program while strengthening the evidence needed for effective scaling. locally buildable solution
Your contribution supports evidence-based expansion of low-cost food storage solutions in Mali.
This program is led and managed by CoolVeg. All funds are directed to Institut d'Economie Rurale (IER) for implementation in Mali.