Republic of the Philippines
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Philippine Center for Postharvest
Development and Mechanization
CLSU Compound, Science City of Muñoz, Nueva Ecija

SUCCESS STORIES

CocoaPhil and the MCSTD experience
by VBCaliguiran (January 15, 2015)
The Cocoa Foundation of the Philippines, also known as CocoaPhil, is a non-profit organization representing the interests of the local cocoa industry stakeholders. The organization is buying fresh cacao beans from farmers at their Cacao Agri-Business Zones (CABZ) located in Davao City, Compostella Valley and Zamboanga Del Norte.

The CABZ were established through the Department of Agriculture in 2010. Each CABZ houses training facilities, nurseries and postharvest facilities such as fermentation boxes, solar and mechanical dryers and warehouses. The CocoaPhil provides seminars and trainings, planting materials and consultancy to at least 16,000 farmers organized within 340 cooperatives.

Just like other crops, drying of the cacao beans is necessary to prolong its shelf life. High moisture content causes mold and pest infestation. In 2010, PHilMech found out that drying in the existing green house of CocoaPhil during fair weather and rainy days results to poor quality beans.

In partnership with the organization, the DA-PHilMech developed the appropriate drying systems for fermented cocoa beans. PHilMech adopted the multi-commodity solar tunnel dryer (MCSTD) and designed a fixed-bed dryer, both with biomass furnaces. Drying test showed that the two dryers have better performance; faster drying time was also recorded.

Early last year, CocoaPhil President Edward David shared that the outputs of the newly developed dryers passed the requirements of the export market. Their organization shipped its first export to Singapore last December 2013.