Powdered onion, sili soon in the market

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine Center for Postharvest Development and Mechanization (PHilMech) is developing a technology that will allow the production of powdered onion and chili (sili) in a bid to offer opportunities to farmers and entrepreneurs.

Ofero Caparino, head at PhilMech’s bio-process engineering division, said the agency has tapped a private farm in Batangas to produce powdered chili.

He said PhilMech has developed an equipment that can be used to dry chili, adding that the other equipment needed for producing chili powder can all be procured locally.

At present, the country imports almost all of its powdered chili and onion requirements, while the top suppliers of powdered chili in the world are China and India.

China’s exports of fresh and processed chili products amounted to $496 million in 2016.

Caparino said this presents an opportunity for chili farmers and those into food processing to supply the local market with the same commodity given the right protocol or process.

“Once PHilMech perfects the protocol, small farmers and agribusiness companies can adopt it to produce powdered chili and initially supply the local market,” the agency said.

For onion powder, Capariño said PHilMech wants to give farmers a solution to address the high postharvest losses they incur during harvest season.

“Based on our field surveys, the postharvest losses of onion farmers reach as high as 40 to 50 percent because of lack of cold storage facilities and other factors,” he said.

PHilMech is currently testing the far infrared and convection heating system (FIRCH) cabinet dryer, multi-commodity solar tunnel dryer (MCSTD), and greenhouse dryer.

Caparino said the drying process is the most critical part since this would affect the quality of chili or onion powder. He added that equipment to pulverize dried chili and onion into power could easily be sourced locally.

He noted that those who dry chili just put them under the sun for 11 to 14 days, leaving the commodity open to contamination from outside elements.

In contrast, FIRCH can dry raw farm produce in eight hours, and the MCSTD and greenhouse dryer in only seven days.

FIRCH employs a two-stage drying process using a conveyor dryer while the MCSTD and greenhouse dryer trap heat from the sun to dry raw farm produce while protecting them from contamination.

PHilMech has been developing protocols and processes, wherein technologies produced by the agency and locally-available equipment are tapped for easier adoption by farmers, cooperatives, and agribusiness enterprises.