Synthesis of Experience in Food Processing and Future Activities

1
Synthesis of Experience in Food Processing and
Future Activities

• Workshop for the Marketing and Processing Project
• Bruce Hamaker, INTSORMIL/Purdue University
• Kaka Saley, INRAN/Niger

2
Millet/Sorghum Marketing and Utilization Project
Scheme 2 parts
1
Contracts Warrantage
Favorable economics for feed use
2
Activities to Expand Processed S/M Food Markets
High Quality, Competitive Products
3
2 Activities to Expand Markets for
Millet/Sorghum Products, and for Feed Use

• Proposed or planned 2 activities should meet the
  criteria of fulfilling these goals
• What can be done with existing technologies or
  know-how to enhance markets for millet and
  sorghum grain?
• Ideally, market enhancement should coincide with
  increased high-quality grain made available
  through contracting

4
Cereal Processing Technologies, Research,
Backstopping Why are they so important to a
successful project?

• Product quality consistent, high quality
  products gain market share
• Mechanized technologies appropriate for small to
  medium-sized processors improve quality
• Efficient, high-throughput processing, even on a
  small level, provides higher profits
• Partnerships between processors, NGOs, and
  research institutes (NARS) makes this happen

5
Critical Role of NARS Research Institutes

• Just as Research Development divisions of food
  companies are instrumental to
• New product development
• Improving product quality and consistency
• Pilot-scale testing
• Demonstration and training
• Analytical testing
• Equipment testing, and development and
  improvement
• NARS Food Technology centers (ITA, IER, IRSAT,
  INRAN) can and do serve the same purpose for
  entrepreneurs looking to start or grow their
  processing businesses
• Close partnership between entrepreneurs and NARS
  is often important for producing high-quality,
  competitive products that can cause market
  expansion

6
Wednesday afternoon working group - utilization

• What will the food scientists achieve and how
  over next year, next five years?
• Technical backstopping
• Better technology labs
• Quality analysis of grains
• Appropriate processing equipments
• New product development
• Training of technicians from NARS labs and
  processing units
• What should be processors-farmers and
  processors-food scientists relationships to speed
  up development of the processing sector?
• Tannin and mycotoxin issues

7
Group identified

• Grain quality
• Grain nutritional aspect (animal feed)
• Physical quality (grades and standards?)
• Improvement of chemical composition
• Normalization (grades and standards?)
• Suppression of anti-nutritional factors
• Improvement of ability to transform millet and
  sorghum foods with unity within region
• Example degue, also could be couscous, etc.

8
In addition to grain sourcing/quality, what are
other constraints processors have in expanding
markets?

• Training
• Good market economic analysis
• Mechanization
• Funds
• Good packaging
• Consistency in quality
• Other?

9
Regional Model for Processed Millet/Sorghum Market

• Senegal
• Institut dAlimentaire Technologie (ITA) strong
  regional leader
• Growing millet processed food market (primary and
  secondary products)
• Strong leaders in processing
• Jaboot and others
• Interest in regionalization

10
Sorghum for animal feed

• Grain quality a major identified issue
• Pricing/economics
• If can be successfully substituted, this can
  provide the largest immediate demand for grain

11
What might grades and standards look like?

• Probably just a few criteria, such as
• Cleanliness
• Hardness/vitreousness (test weight/density)
• Grain size/size consistency (thousand kernel
  weight)
• Color?
• Others?

12
Example of NARS processing projectINRAN/INTSORMI
L Sorghum and Millet Processing
13
Integrated program

• Processing of commercializable products from
  sorghum or millet requires a relatively pure
  source of grain
• Sorghum hybrid project (I. Kapran/J. Axtell) has
  potential to provide consistent good quality
  grain
• Processed products offer an incentive to produce
  new varieties/hybrids and for formation of
  contracts w/ farmers

14
Niger Couscous and High Quality Flours

• Couscous was chosen because it is
• a popular traditional food
• takes time to make
• in the Niamey marketplace as imported wheat-based
  couscous or hand-made variable quality sorghum-
  or millet-based couscous
• Flours consistent high quality flours are not
  available in the marketplace

15
Sorghum Couscous INRAN/Niger
16
Steps in Couscous Manufacture
Grain Cleaning
Packaging
17
Throughput of Cereal Processing Unit
18
Project Objectives

• Optimize sorghum couscous and associated products
  
• Two phase marketing study to learn about the
  acceptability and the market potential of the
  processed NAD1 couscous
• Optimize the processing equipment
• Transfer of the technology to beneficiaries

19
Couscous color
wheat
sepon
irat
nad-1
p721n
90
80
70
60
decorticated grain
p171
sc283
mota
p721q
Extent of decortication vs. couscous color
Couscous color of sorghum cultivars at 80
decortication
20
Acceptability and Marketing Studies

• Initially made approximately 4 metric tons of
  couscous and flour products
• Two phase study
• In home testing of acceptability
• Market testing in 3 settings (supermarket, small
  stores, general market)

21
Quality of couscous (in the mouth)
Rating 1very bad, 2bad, 3acceptable, 4good,
5very good
22
Overall Acceptability of Couscous
Comparison 1very bad, 2bad, 3acceptable,
4good, 5very good Marketability of people
who believe that the couscous should be
commercialized
23
Nutritional properties of sorghum another
marketing tool?

• Lower in glycemic index?
• Human studies planned
• Related to diabetes, obesity, and others
• Antioxidants
• Cholesterol-lowering?

24
IFAD-financed Millet-Sorghum Initiative

• The couscous agglomerator (CIRAD-designed) was
  fabricated in Niamey and placed in a private
  processing unit (M. Coulibaly) where contracted
  of grain was also done
• In region, equipment development (ITA) and
  purchases were made
• Good successes in Senegal and Burkina Faso

25
A constraint Procuring new processing
technologies

• Improved processing technologies exist for
  millet/sorghum products in the region developed
  at ITA, CIRAD and others
• How to get new technologies in the private
  sector?
• Entrepreneurs invest their own capital
• Not common in emerging markets, but examples
  exist
• Donor-funded projects provide some improved
  equipment with appropriate payback schemes
• Somewhat limited in scope, though can provide
  examples where new technologies work and are
  profitable
• Bank loans
• Need clear market and profit potential
  documentation
• Project could help entrepreneurs

26
Future Activities?

• Grain quality parameters a clear issue stick to
  those that have good short term impact for the
  project
• Collection and dissemination of existing
  information
• Unified regional approach towards products new
  product development?
• Market development economic study for
  identification of products with best market
  potential
• Training quality, technology, management
• Interface with INTSORMIL Animal Feed project as a
  resource regarding the tannin issue
• What are the priority food and feed processor
  constraints that this project can address to help
  expand markets?