PhilMech sees export potential for cocoa

MANILA, Philippines - Cocoa, the main ingredient for chocolate products and other confectionaries, could be another export winner for the Philippines, if farmers are provided with the proper post-harvest technologies, according to Dr. Romualdo Martinez, chief science research specialist  of the Philippine Center for Postharvest Development and Mechanization (PhilMech).

 According to the recently concluded research, there is a general lack of post-harvest knowledge and proper equipment among farmers cultivating the crop, which is also a factor as to why the Philippines could not export large quantities of cocoa. 

“Cocoa bean is a major agricultural commodity traded worldwide. In 2011, the world produced around 4.25 million tons. About 74.8 percent of production came from Africa, with Ivory Coast producing around 1.511 million tons and Ghana about 1.025 million tons. Asia contributed around 12.5 percent, the bulk of which came from Indonesia,” Dr. Martinez added.

He added that Indonesia exported 440,000 tons of cocoa beans in 2011, while the Philippines shipped a measly 250 tons in 2010. 

PhilMech applied communication division head Dr. Rodolfo Estigoy said that the agency’s findings would be immediately disseminated to cocoa farmers so that their old post-harvest practices would be changed. 

“PhilMech’s addressing the critical issue of drying which can make cocoa beans a viable and profitable export commodity for the Philippines. And since there is growing interest in growing more cocoa, it is but timely that PhilMech addressed the post-harvest issues related to cocoa,” he said. 

The findings of PhilMech showed that cocoa beans that were fermented before drying fetched higher prices. 

“Traditionally, cocoa beans are dried without undergoing fermentation. However, fermentation has now become a standard process for producing good quality beans. 

The world market price of unfermented cocoa beans is about 20 percent lower,” Dr. Martinez said.

 While fermenting cocoa beans is being adopted by Filipino farmers, PhilMech found out that there is a lack in technology to dry the beans, which is a crucial step since only dried beans with good quality are sold in the world market. 

“Direct sun drying [of cocoa beans] remains the most common method worldwide. However, direct sun drying is not recommended by CocoaPhil in the Philippines because of rain risks,” Dr. Martinez said. 

CocoaPhil is the Cocoa Foundation of the Philippines which collaborated with PhilMech on the study. 

To determine the most appropriate type of drying technology, PhilMech evaluated a multi-commodity solar tunnel drier (MCSTD), greenhouse-type drier, and a fixed-bed drier with biomass furnace (which has similarities to the biomass driers used for palay and corn).

The fixed-bed drier is a prototype developed by PhilMech with inputs from CocoaPhil. 

Based on PhilMech studies, moisture content for shipping cocoa beans should be about seven percent.

Beans that are not properly dried could end up having molds. 

The findings showed that the MCSTD dried cocoa beans in fair weather in four to five days, and the greenhouse drier in six  to seven days.

The best results were obtained by using the fixed-bed drier with biomass furnace, which dried beans in three to four days under any weather condition, and resulted in dried beans with zero molds. 

“Investing in both (sun and furnace) drying technologies will result to higher income on the part of the investor/user,” the study said.