To prevent storage of moldy crops, which are detrimental to farmers from both health and market perspectives, researchers at UC Davis invented a low-cost, easy-to-use tool that farmers can use to measure food dryness, called the DryCard. This innovative tool, which uses cobalt chloride paper with a color guide on a laminated piece of paper the size of a business card, tests dryness of crops and can easily let farmers know if their product is dry enough to be stored, leading to optimum consumption and sales potential. Organizations in Tanzania, Kenya, Zambia, Bangladesh and Guinea are currently testing the DryCard, with hopes of the tool becoming more widely available soon.
University of California - Davis, April 2017