GOVPH

With the government’s move to revitalize the cocoa industry,the Department of Science and Technology-Industrial Technology Development Institute (DOST-ITDI) developed globally competitive technologies to enhance locally processed cacao products.

These ITDI-developed technologies, namely cacao (tablea) processing and cacao bean roaster, speed up production time and improve the quality of cacao-based chocolate. Said  technologies are of big help to entrepreneurs producing cacao-based products.

Ma.Dolor L. Villaseñor, a supervisor at the DOST-ITDI’s Food Processing Division pitched to the potential stakeholders from the business sectorthat the cacao (tablea) process technologyis designed to help the players in the cacao industry produce tablea that are at par with the ASEAN standards.

“The cacao processing technology that DOST-ITDI developedcan produce cocoa that is smooth and less acidic than the ones commercially available,” she said.

As of 2015, the country produced 14,000 metric tons (MT) of cacao, and 12,000 MT of these were produced in Davao Region.

Meanwhile, the ITDI-developed cacao bean roasterhas better features than traditional roasters in terms of ease of use and affordability. This locally fabricated roaster costs around P600,000 pesos  while imported ones cost up to P1 million.

“We’re targeting the local licensed fabricators for this cacao bean roaster technology,” Rufino T. Barcala Jr. said.

ITDI developed the bean roasterto make the equipment locally available and more affordable to SMSEs when they adopt the technology.

These cacao technologies will scale down the production cost and improve the quality of locally manufactured chocolate products.

Local entrepreneurs can avail of thesetechnologies through licensingagreements with DOST-ITDI which offerstechnical services for various industries.

For more details on food processing technologies, please visit http://www.itdi.dost.gov.ph/.(By Geraldine Bulaon-Ducusin | Photos by Henry A. de Leon, S&T Media Service)