Fresh fruits and vegetables are important foods both from economic and nutritional point of view. Fruits and vegetable of all types are valuable part of our diet, however, many vegetables are highly seasonal in nature, they are available in abundance at a particular season and sometimes result in market glut, while at off-season they become very scarce and expensive. Large quantities of these vegetables are lost during or shortly after harvest due to their perishable nature.  Drying of vegetables as a means of reducing post-harvest losses and improve storability has been practiced for many centuries. As compared to fresh vegetables which can be kept for few days, dry products can be stored for months or even years without substantial loss of nutrients. This paper reviews some commonly dried fruits and vegetables consumed in northern Nigeria, which includes; Tomato, Okra, Baobab leaves, Sweet potato, Cassava, Moringa, Sorrel and Jute. A comprehensive review of preservation methods, price variation with season, storage and duration of these fruits and vegetables is presented and recommendations are made for further studies. Fresh fruits and vegetables are important foods both from economic and nutritional point of view. Fruits and vegetable of all types are valuable part of our diet, however, many vegetables are highly seasonal in nature, they are available in abundance at a particular season and sometimes result in market glut, while at off-season they become very scarce and expensive. Large quantities of these vegetables are lost during or shortly after harvest due to their perishable nature.  Drying of vegetables as a means of reducing post-harvest losses and improve storability has been practiced for many centuries. As compared to fresh vegetables which can be kept for few days, dry products can be stored for months or even years without substantial loss of nutrients. This paper reviews some commonly dried fruits and vegetables consumed in northern Nigeria, which includes; Tomato, Okra, Baobab leaves, Sweet potato, Cassava, Moringa, Sorrel and Jute. A comprehensive review of preservation methods, price variation with season, storage and duration of these fruits and vegetables is presented and recommendations are made for further studies.

The study was aimed at evaluating the machine performance of a fabricated prototype of a sugarcane juice extractor. The study was conducted in the Department of Agricultural and Bio-resources engineering, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria in May 2018. The machine was evaluated using two varieties of cane; Koma (saccharumbarberi) and Kantoma (saccharumofficinarum) in a factorial experiment with five (5) levels of crushing roller speeds (20, 30, 40, 50 and 60 rpm) and three levels of feed rates: one (1) cane stalk, two (2) cane stalks and three (3) cane stalks arranged in 2x5x3 in completely randomized design. Average values of measured parameters obtained from the five crushing speeds were used in plotting graphs in order to establish the relationships that exist between the measured parameters and speed of operation. Data collected for output capacity and extraction efficiency were analyzed using a statistical analysis software (SAS version 9.0). Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and the Duncan Multiple Range Test (DMRT) were computed at 1 and 5 % levels of significance. The results of performance evaluation showed that the best output capacities of 152.4 and 154.2 kg/hr and the best efficiencies of 72.1 and 63.4% were obtained at the speed of 30 rpm and feed rate of one (1) cane stalk for koma and kantoma varieties respectively. The extraction losses of 17.8 and 21.5% were also recorded at the speed of 60 rpm for the two varieties respectively.

Groundnut roasting for oil extraction is a common practice among local women in Nigeria. As a result of this a manually operated groundnut roaster was developed in the Institute of agricultural Research (IAR). This machine requires human power to operate. In this study, ergonomics analysis was carried out considering a view of differences in energy expenditure on this machine using two women as subjects. A hand ergometer was used to calibrate the two subjects. From the results obtained, the roaster consumes an average of 3250J/m and 3400J/m from subjects A and B respectively. Keywords— Ergonomics, Groundnut roaster, Energy, Women, Ergometer