Cassava (Manihot esculenta) is an important food crop in the tropics—a major carbohydrate staple consumed in various forms by humans. Furthermore, its usage as a source of ethanol for fuel, energy in animal feed, and starch for industry is increasing. Given that cassava represents a valuable subsistence and cash crop in many countries, its domestic and industrial potential needs to be fully exploited. Processing of cassava reduces the moisture content and converts it into a more durable and stable product. Women traditionally process cassava, although it could be processed at the small, medium, or industrial scale. This article discusses the major Nigerian domestic products as well as the potential industrial products of cassava that are yet to be produced locally and the machines used in their production. Although improved technology is one of the keys to increasing the productivity of micro-enterprises and generating broad-based, sustainable economic growth, the extent to which a given technology is acc...

Utilization Potentials of Cassava in Nigeria: The Domestic and Industrial Products

Technological assessment of palm oil production in Osun and Ondo states of Nigeria

Gari is a key staple food in several western African countries. This is a cassava traditional semolina obtained after peeling, rasping, fermentation, pressing, sieving, and roasting (cooking/drying). The process of gari production is artisanal and relies on human know-how, and the final properties of gari are highly dependent on the human skills. So as to understand the combined effect of the various transformation steps on the final quality of gari, the main objective of this work was to develop a lab-scale integrated approach to follow the transformation of the product characteristics during the process using macroscopic (water content, solid volume fraction, and particles size) and microscopic (physicochemical and biochemical) responses. At the microscopic level, pressing is a key step insofar as it induces the draining of many soluble compounds (especially the toxic cyanogenic compounds). At the macroscopic level, despite the strong similarity in median diameters of the intermediate and final products, two distinct agglomeration mechanisms occurred during the pressing/sieving and the roasting. These mechanisms highlight the structuration of the product at two different scales and at two different moments. Finally, results showed a high swelling capacity for fermented gari. The approach developed in this work will make it possible to identify the robust mechanisms, i.e., those little affected by a change in scale or in operating conditions. This identification will thereafter allow to distinguish unit operations, fairly easy to mechanize, from those requiring strict control to achieve the final product quality sought.

Development of a Novel Integrated Approach to Monitor Processing of Cassava Roots into Gari: Macroscopic and Microscopic Scales

The physical and chemical properties of twelve cultivars of pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) grown in different regions of Iran were investigated by multivariate analysis method. The fruit fresh weight and volume, fruit density, fruit neck diameter, fruit peel weight, fruit peel percent, fruit aril percent, juice content, peel thickness, seed percent, total soluble solids, titrable acidity, harvest index, reducing sugars, pH, electric conductivity (EC), vitamin C, ellagic acid and tannin content of juice and peel (using HPLC) and total antioxidant activity of juice and peel (using FRAP assay) were the measured characters. Results showed a considerable variation in the studied properties. Cases of homonymy existing among cultivars were shown as cluster analysis. Based on the principal component analysis among measured parameters a big variability was observed. The first component correlated positively with fruit density, seed percent, titrable acidity, ellagic acid content of peel, and negatively with fruit fresh weight and volume, fruit peel weight, fruit aril percent, aril juice percent and fruit density. The second component had positive correlation with harvest index, pH, reducing sugars, ellagic acid content of juice, ellagic acid content of peel and negative correlation with fruit density, total acidity, electric conductivity and fruit peel thickness. Discrimination analysis classified 98% of specimens to correctly expected groups. Most effective characters in discrimination were fruit aril percent and volume with positive correlation, pH, and ellagic acid content of juice with negative correlation to first extracted function. Second extracted function showed positive correlation with ellagic acid content of peel, fruit fresh weight, harvest index and negative correlation with fruit peel weight, aril juice percent and fruit peel thickness.

Multivariate analysis of physical and chemical characteristics in some pomegranate (Punica granatum) cultivars of Iran

This study focused on the optimization of enzymatic treatments of cassava tuber peels to enhance hydrolysis and therefore improve the peeling process. A commercial enzyme was applied on the cassava peels. The parameters of the enzymatic treatments comprising temperature, pH, incubation time, and dose of enzyme were varied using the response surface methodology by the central composite design to optimize the enzymatic treatment of cassava peels. The glucose content and total soluble solids were determined as response factors for screening the enzymatic treatment efficacy. After 30 runs of enzyme treatments in the central composite design, multivariate correlation of the glucose content was established with R2 at 0.956 and MAPE at 1.14 %. Results show that glucose content and total soluble solids were significantly (p

Enzymatic hydrolysis of cassava peels as potential pre-treatment for peeling of cassava tubers

This study was undertaken to assess the capacity and technology needs of women in Osun and Ondo States for gari production. The field survey was carried out by means of a structured questionnaire, administered through a participatory learning technique. At least two processing centers were visited in each Local Government Area in the two States. Altogether a total of 63 gari processing centers were visited. Mechanical grating of (manually) peeled cassava tubers has been fully adopted, while over 88% of processors have also embraced mechanical dewatering of the grated mash. Manual sieving is still predominant as mechanical sieving devices so far introduced still present problems; Frying also remains a manual operation, though some improved frying devices are being adopted. Women involvement in the operation and management of mechanical devices is not encouraging. Processing centers utilising diesel engine as prime movers predominate (84.7%), but they mostly employ male operators. This study however reveals...

Adefemi J. Osunbitan

Papers

Technology choice and technical capacity in gari production