Dry method pili depulper, faster pilinut cracker developed

Planters and traders of pili (Canarium Ovatum), an indigenous nut tree largely found in Bicol Region, could now probably expect better business prospects following the successful development of a dry-process pili depulping machine and a pilinut cracker five times faster than the traditional cracking device.

The first public demonstration on how the pili depulping machine and pilinut cracker operate was performed at the Technology Demonstration Center (TDC) in Gubat, Sorsogon last Tuesday by a group of researchers headed by Arnulfo P. Malinis, an agricultural engineer from the Bicol University College of Agriculture and Forestry (BUCAF) based on Guinobatan, Albay and experts from the Bureau of Postharvest Research and Extension (BPRE) based in Muñoz, Nueva Ecija.

Malinis said that one of the machines his group had developed could crack at least 197 pieces of pilinut in a minute, a sped around five times faster than the traditional of merely 40 nuts per minutes.

"And with this machine, the percentage of crashed pili kernel is very minimal compared to the manual or traditional method, and the workers are not exposed to hand injuries," the Bicolano machine designer said.

The pili depulping machine, on the other hand, can depulp at least 150 kilograms of fresh pilinuts in an hour," Malinis said.

Malinis said the machine could depulp newly harvested pili fruits, or even without subjecting them to water-soaking, a traditional method presently being done by pili farmers and traders.

The Bicolano designer said that the machine’s distinct feature from the earlier developed pili depulpers is that is has the capability to depulp pili fruits even without subjecting these fruits into water-soaking to soften the pulp before machine-processing.

"But this method put the pili pulp into wastage while the kernel is also oftentimes damaged because of soaking. These affect the quality of pili by-products, such as the pili sweets," Malinis added. "The newly-designed machine tries to preserve the quality of the kernel and save the pulp for other uses."

At present, prices of pili fruits in the market here ranges from P5.50 to P6.50 per kilo while the nuts without pulp are sold at P16 to P18 per kilo. But the pili kernel costs P180 to P220 a kilo.

Jose Navarro, chairman of the Sorsogon Integrated Hybrid Seed Producers Multi-Purpose Cooperative (SIMPCO), a group of farmers engaged in pili and other root-crop farming in Bicol, revealed that during peak season and when the supply of pili is already scarce, a kilo of pili kernel reaches up to P650.

Navarro expressed optimism that the development of such machine could greatly help the pili industry and improve the income of both the pili farmers and traders.

"Wala kang makikitang bunga ng kahoy dito sa Bicol o kahit sa ibang bahagi ng Pilipinas na ang isang kilo ay umaabot ng P650. Kaya kung mas mapapaayos natin ang industriya ng pili sa bansa, marahil dito na tayo yayaman," Navarro said.

Based on the study conducted by the Bicol Consortium for Agriculture and Resources Research (BCARRD) called "Benchmark Survey and pili industry in the Bicol Region," Sorsogon has the most number of fruit-bearing pili trees with 6,615, or 44 percent of the total number; followed by Albay with 5,204 or 34.82 percent; Camarines Sur with 1,332 or 8.92 percent; Camarines Norte with 1,200, or 8.03 percent; and Catanduanes with 594, or 3.9 percent. Masbate has very minimal pili trees during the survey period.

The same study revealed that there were at least 2,000 pili farmers in Bicol with the highest number came from Sorsogon with 1,023, followed by Albay with 569.

The study estimated that some 63-million pilinuts would be produced in Bicol by the end of 2003.

At present, Bicol is known for producing pili by-products merely for local or domestic consumption.