Dates, Tomato and Solar Drying Plants for Libyan Processors

Most of Libya is desert, and rain is rare and irregular. Rainfall is enough to sustain rainfed farming only in the northern Tripoli and Benghazi regions, and the centre of the country has internal depressions that include several oases. Date palms are grown in Libya, including in Fezzan, and the fruit is a natural raw material for processing, either as packed fruit or as syrup and paste made by extraction and evaporation. Tomatoes, citrus and other fruit, where a processor has a supply, can be concentrated, juiced or dried.

The climate can be an advantage for drying. The Mediterranean coastal strip has dry summers and relatively wet winters, while the interior has desert conditions with torrid temperatures, so solar-assisted dryers can cut fuel use when drying fruit, vegetables and herbs, while hot-air systems provide steady control. Evaporation and spray drying of milk is a process worth considering for dairies that want a storable powder.

Likely users are food and beverage processors, date packers, dairies and small agro-processing groups serving the coast and the oasis towns, who would send details of their own raw material so that a proposal is scoped to real supply rather than assumed volumes.