Postharvest system improvement–best practices in fresh and dried chili in Southeast Asia: quality and safety aspect

Date

2016

Abstract

Chili (Capsicum frustescens), popularly known as bird's eye chili or 'siling labuyo' in the Philippines, is one of the most popular spices grown in the country. Chilies are commonly used during meals as condiment to add flavor and spice to local viands. Chilies are produced across the country mostly for domestic consumption but some are also exported. Fortunately, the chili industry has no rejection notifications and has great potential to expand. To develop GAP on fresh chili and GMP on dried chili aiming for high value domestic and export markets and to develop supply chain management in postharvest, available data and information on chili were gathered. Likewise, interview of chili growers and processors and production site visits were conducted. Different supply chains were drawn from the interviews wherein the growers/processor, buyer/trader/assembler, wholesaler, retailer, and consumers are the main players. Quality and safety issues along the value chain were identified and the main concerns were on the non-compliance to GAP, lack of knowledge on the specific chili variety planted, fluctuating market price, and marketing. Along with these, best practices and other suggestions were given to improve the current state of the chili value chain. Compliance and implementation of national GAP and other standards will greatly enhance production and postharvest practices to reduce problems on quality and safety of produce. Compliance will also be enhanced if 'price premiums' are given to complying farmers. For the processing aspects, compliance with GMP and standards will improve the operation and management of the processing plants and broaden their market potentials locally and internationally. Lastly, with government's intervention, a shorter supply chain can be developed by linking growers directly to specific trading centers and/or institutional buyers to address marketing issues, and to mediate in the relationship of farmer and buyers/traders to provide security and to avoid price distortions. Government support are also needed to initiate research activities to provide reliable data and information to further support development of best practices for production, postharvest and processing of chili.

Language

English

Document Type

Article

Pages /Collation

70 leaves

En – AGROVOC descriptors

CHILLIES; CAPSICUM FRUTESCENS; VARIETIES; SAFETY; QUALITY; PRODUCTION; PROCESSING; POSTHARVEST TECHNOLOGY

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