Collaboration for Agriculture & Rural Development: Cocoa Fermentation and Drying and Quality Assessment in Vietnam "MS8 pdf

Ministry of Agriculture & Rural Development Collaboration for Agriculture & Rural Development 013VIE05 VIE: Cocoa Fermentation and Drying and Quality Assessment in Vietnam MS8: Progress Report Milestone 8: Objective competency assessment of Can Tho, NLU and WASI staff in: • Design, installation and advice for the use of farmer appropriate drying and fermentation equipment • Skills in establishment and management of taste panels, cocoa sensory analysis and biometry procedures • Analysis and reporting of on-farm trials in Ben Tre, Western Highlands and Success sites, including farmer oriented financial analysis of cocoa quality improvement interventions Table of Contents Institute Information _ Project Abstract _ Executive Summary Introduction & Background _ 5 Progress to Date _ 5.1 Implementation highlights _ 5.2 Smallholder benefits 5.3 Capacity Building 5.4 Publicity 5.5 Project Management _ Report on Cross-Cutting Issues 10 6.1 Environment _ 10 6.2 Gender and Social Issues _ 10 Implementation & Sustainability Issues _ 11 7.1 Issues and Constraints _ 11 7.2 Options 11 7.3 Sustainability _ 11 Next Critical Steps 12 Conclusion 12 10 Statutory Declaration _Error! Bookmark not defined 1 Institute Information Project Name 013VIE05 Cocoa Fermentation and Drying and Quality Assessment in Vietnam Vietnamese Institution Can Tho University Vietnamese Project Team Leader Dr Ha Thanh Toan Vietnamese Institution Nong Lam University Vietnamese Project Team Leader Dr Pham Hong Duc Phuoc Vietnamese Institution Western Highlands Agro-forestry Science & Technical Institute Vietnamese Project Team Leader Dr NGUYEN VAN THUONG Australian Organisation QDPI&F Australian Personnel Neil Hollywood Date commenced February 06 Completion date (original) February 08 Completion date (revised) June 08 Contact Officer(s) In Australia: Team Leader Neil Hollywood Name: Senior Microbiologist Position: Organisation QDPI&F Telephone: Fax: Email: 617 34068643 617 34068699 Neil.hollywood@dpi.qld.gov.au In Australia: Administrative contact Michelle Sinn Name: Senior Planning Officer Position: Organisation QDPI&F Telephone: Fax: Email: 617 33462711 617 33462727 Michelle.Sinn@dpi.qld.gov.au In Vietnam Ha Thanh Toan Director, Biotechnology R&D Institute Organisation Can Tho University Name: Position: Telephone: Fax: 84 71 830604 84 71 830604 Email: httoan@ctu.edu.vn Project Abstract The Government of Vietnam is focusing on high quality Vietnamese cocoa and has set a goal of having 10,000 of planted cocoa by 2010 This is principally aimed for in the Central Highlands and Mekong Delta regions These are priority regions for CARD projects It is crucial that Vietnam produces a high quality fermented cocoa that would improve incomes for Vietnamese farmers The best way to assure good quality attributes is to train relevant Vietnamese organisation’s staff in assessment of cocoa quality and fermentation and drying methodologies The obvious choice for training are scientists from the Vietnamese Cocoa Development team in Nong Lam University, scientists from Can Tho University, and WASI, the official cocoa research institute, in Dak Lak province In this project, smallholder methods of fermenting and solar drying cocoa are to be tested under Vietnamese conditions and factors involved in farmer adoption Methodologies will be passed to farmers through extension and other appropriate channels In tandem with this, training of Vietnamese staff in cocoa sensory and chemical analysis at QDPI&F, is to be conducted The aim of these project activities is to produce high quality cocoa as well as having the capacity to monitor and advise at the participating Vietnamese Institutes Executive Summary During this period the last of fermentation trial results from Nong Lam University were received and write up of fermentation and drying trials completed This allowed completion of the farmer’s manual regarding recommended procedures for processing of cocoa post harvesting i.e pod storage, fermentation procedures and manipulations and drying procedures These results have been reported in milestone reports five and seven • Design, installation and advice for the use of farmer appropriate drying and fermentation equipment The final recommendations, regarding dryer design and materials to be used, were completed in August 2006 This was the time of the QDPI& F Engineer’s visit Since then, seven dryers have been prefabricated at Can Tho University These were then transported to different farmer sites Three have been erected in Ben Tre, two has been erected in Dak Lak, one has been erected in Can Tho and one erected at Nong Lam University Performances of the dryers have been tested at each of the participating Vietnamese Institutes Similarly, fermentation boxes of four different capacities (100kg, 50kg, 25kg and 10kg) were also supplied to each farmer As well as box fermentations, heap fermentations have been conducted and recommended in the farmer’s manual Recommendations regarding fermentation and drying procedures have been presented previously in the farmer’s manual as an attachment to milestone The manual is currently undergoing a revision of its format, prior to printing • Skills in establishment and management of taste panels, cocoa sensory analysis and biometry procedures All of these factors were covered during the training of Vietnamese staff, from each participating Vietnamese Institute, at QDPI&F during July 2006 Nong Lam University already had a cocoa grinder and WASI was supplied with one as per the budget Can Tho university has been supplied with a “kitchen appliance” type grinder which is satisfactory for the production of both chocolate and cocoa liquors The institutes therefore have the training and equipment to conduct taste panels, cocoa sensory analysis and biometry procedures • Analysis of on-farm trials in Ben Tre, Western Highlands and SUCCESS Alliance sites, including farmer oriented financial analysis of cocoa quality improvement interventions On-farm trials Analysis of on-farm trials and drying rates was conducted by staff from all three Vietnamese Institutes and presented in milestone seven However, none of the participating institutes are close enough to cocoa growing areas to conduct the full range of analytical tests that are required for proper assessment of fermentation and drying parameters Analysis was basically restricted to getting farmers to measure the temperatures of fermentation times and length of time for drying, either with or without a solar dryer and then doing analyses on dried bean samples Farmer oriented financial analysis of cocoa quality improvement interventions The full analysis of the farmer surveys conducted before and after the installation of solar dryers at smallholder sites is presented as an attachment Summary of findings An initial survey of farmer practices, time, labour, costs and income had been conducted, in Ben Tre Province, in August 2006 This survey was conducted to establish baseline figures for production, income, time & labour inputs etc and involved interviewing fifty farmers The basic findings were reported in the milestone report in December 2006 Following this initial survey, three farmers, in Ben Tre province, were supplied with solar dryers in the second half of 2006 A follow up survey was conducted in December 2007 This survey consisted of twenty five farmers from the original 2006 survey, two of whom had been supplied with a solar dryer and an additional twenty five new farmers not included in 2006 One of these new farmers had been supplied with solar dryers The effect on the income of farmers is summarised below and presented in detail in the farmer’s survey attachment One problem with the survey is that farmers were usually not able to give accurate production figures as records aren’t kept Records are generally not kept for income either For both production and income figures, it was usually the case that farmers could only give estimates or not answer the questions for these and other factors In cases where production figures were given, but not income, the income had to be calculated on pod production & purchasing figures This is gone into in some detail in the survey attachment During this reporting period, surveys of cocoa producing farmers in Can Tho, Dak Lak and Dak Nong provinces were completed There is only one substantial cocoa grower in Can Tho province and this farmer was provided with a solar dryer in 2007 Because of the distances (>60km) of farmers from Western Highlands Agricultural Science Institute (WASI) a survey was only conducted on a total of six farmers in Dak Lak and Dak Nong One of the farmers had been supplied with a solar dryer in December 2006 The findings for these provinces are similar to those of Ben Tre which is summarised as follows: In Ben Tre Province there were three recipients of solar dryers The first was a Mrs Nam Suong at An Phu, An Khanh, Chau Thanh She is a farmer who has a 0.25ha farm planted with two hundred trees and therefore had little capacity for cocoa production of her own She had set herself up as a pod buying point before the initial survey and was fermenting and drying beans from purchased pods as well as her own In the year prior to August 2006, she was producing and/or buying around 2500kg per annum for a cost of VND51M After fermenting and drying, she was making an annual income of approximately VND97M and approximately VND46M profit Since receiving the dryer, she can now process much larger quantities of pods and is purchasing approximately three thousand kilos of pods per week in the main harvest period and approximately 400kg of pods per week in the remainder of the year The purchase of these pods costs her VND104M After fermenting and drying, she makes an annual income VND285M Therefore she is now making an annual profit of VND182M She has also reported a reduction in drying times and associated labour from 6-8 days to 3-5 days in the dry season and from 9-11 days to 68 days in the wet season Therefore, she has not only increased her capacity to process the crop and income from it, but also reduced processing times and associated labour by three days The second Ben Tre farmer is Nguyen Hung Son and his wife Dinh Thi Kieu of Phu Xuan Village, Phu Duc, Chau Thanh They have a farm of one hectare which had 300 trees planted in 2000 and 600 trees planted in 2003 They were also a pod buying point prior to being given a solar dryer In both 2006 and 2007 they gave an estimated annual income of VND100M From their pod production figures, VND42M in 2006 and VND55M in 2007, would have been from their own crop The remainder would have come from purchased pods which approximately double in value, after fermentation and drying They have got an increased capacity for processing crop and have reported reductions in drying times and associated labour of 1-2 days in the dry season and 2-4 days in the wet season The third recipient in Ben Tre was Nguyen Thanh Phuong and his wife Ho Thi Hong Hue They had a one hectare farm which had been planted with 400 trees in 2005 and 150 trees in 2006 The 400 trees planted in 2005 would have been coming into production at the time of the survey in 2007 He also has an increased capacity to ferment and dry cocoa and processes 500kg of pods per week during the peak season He has not given estimates for income, but that amount of cocoa would translate to VND93M annually when sold as fermented dried beans He was receiving VND27,000/kg dried beans from Cargill in December 2007 As of June 2008, prices for cocoa are VND 36-38,000 per kilo and the same crop would have earned him VND127M He reported reductions of three days in drying time and associated labour for the dry season and two days in the wet season With quality attributes of cocoa, there has not been any perceivable change due to the introduction of solar dryers In Ben Tre, Dak Lak, Dak Nong and Can Tho provinces, the weather is such that there are negligible losses of cocoa or detrimental flavour effects, from mould contamination, during standard sun drying All farmers reported < 1% loss of cocoa to mould contamination using traditional drying methods What the solar dryers have done is to increase the capacity of farmers to dry fermented cocoa and, at the same time, reduce drying time and associated labour As well, no time is spent shifting drying trays under cover at night or during periods of rain and this represents a significant time and labour saving Therefore farmers with a solar dryer have got an increased capacity to grow or purchase other farmers crop for processing combined with an ability to reduce drying times and labour The use of sun dryers can only be said to maintain quality standards while processing larger volumes The main impact this project could have on quality attributes is through adoption of recommendations regarding fermentation procedures as presented in the fermentation trials and manual reported in milestones five and seven As it turned out, recommendations regarding fermentations were only finalised in March 2008 There has not been time to introduce them to farmers and then gauge an effect on quality attributes There is every reason to believe that adoption of the fermentation recommendations would improve quality but another six month period would be required to establish that Introduction & Background Cocoa production is focused the Mekong Delta in Vietnam with new goal 10,000 of cocoa planted by 2010 The overall objective of the project is that Vietnam can produce high quality fermented cocoa and then in-turn to increase cocoa growing farmer’s income The Specific Project Objectives are: Capacity building of three selected Vietnamese Institutions to assess cocoa quality; Establishment of sensory laboratories, trained sensory panels and install software packages for analysis at all three participating institutions; Training on analytical aspects of cocoa quality in Australia-QDPI&F for one scientist from Can Tho University and from Nong Lam University due to their existing analytical capacity; Optimisation of fermentation practices for small farmers; Introduction of solar drying technology to two selected Vietnamese institutions; Extension of methodologies to small farmers; To achieve this objective, the approach is to develop, test and extend techniques in quality assessment at the institutional level and to develop appropriate smallholder processing and quality assurance methodologies Milestone is defined as Objective competency assessment of Can Tho, NLU and WASI staff in: • Design, installation and advice for the use of farmer appropriate drying and fermentation equipment • Skills in establishment of taste panels, cocoa sensory analysis and biometry procedures • Analysis and reporting of on-farm trials 5 Progress to Date 5.1 Implementation highlights The activities listed are as per the project document as this states the activities in more detail than the amended contract Objective competency assessment of Can Tho, NLU and WASI staff including: • Skills in establishment and management of taste panels, cocoa sensory analysis and biometry procedures Objectives 3, & 6: Activity 3.1: Training in sensory, analytical and biometry procedures at QDPI&F for Vietnamese staff from Can Tho, Nong Lam and WASI This took place in August 2006 and associated training notes provided Nong Lam University nominated a student already in Brisbane, thus saving an airfare This airfare was then used to bring a staff member from WASI The following staff attended the course; Pham Van Tho from WASI, Nguyen Van Than from CTU and Tuyen-Thuc Truong from NLU The staff members from CTU and WASI did not have previous training in sensory evaluation Tuyen-Thuc had attended a course at NLU, “Sensory Evaluation of Cocoa” in September 2004 & a course “Food Sensory Evaluation” in March 2004 at the University of Technology, HCMC Activities 3.2: Training on cocoa sensory, biometry and analytical procedures by Australian collaborators for scientists from Can Tho, WASI and NLU The staff received training in sensory analysis, establishment of taste panels and associated biometry In addition, training was conducted in the use of High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) for analysis of organic acids in cocoa and Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry - Olfactometry (GC-MS-O) for identification of volatile compounds and their aromas, associated with cocoa flavour and aroma Cocoa samples from Can Tho, Ben Tre and WASI, were analysed and subjected to sensory evaluation Samples from West Africa, Malaysia, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea were also included for comparative purposes Reports of this visit have been previously presented in Milestone report (2nd six monthly report) An attachment (2), regarding this training, is provided Activity 3.3: Establishment of sensory, analytical and biometry procedures at Can Tho, WASI and NLU Further industry consultation, regarding Vietnamese cocoa quality and how the project can address issues, was also pursued during this visit A cocoa quality workshop, organised by SUCCESS Alliance (SA) and MARS, at Nong Lam University was attended by the Australian collaborator during his visit in April 2007 He also gave a presentation on cocoa fermentation and drying and quality aspects of cocoa at this workshop Activity 4.1: Assistance to Can Tho, NLU and WASI in buying the equipment required for sensory, analytical and biometry procedures Can Tho University A liquoring machine for CTU was not budgeted for in the project but an alternative cheaper machine which would produce liquors was found This was a “kitchen utensil”, mortar and pestle, produced for grinding herbs and spices to a powdered form It was found to produce satisfactory liquors and chocolate CTU therefore, now has trained staff and the equipment for making cocoa liquor and chocolate samples Western Highlands Agricultural Science Institute A cocoa liquoring machine was delivered to Vietnam in September 2006 and forwarded to WASI in time for the Australian collaborator’s visit in December that year Liquor production and tasting sessions were then conducted under supervision by the Australian collaborator during visits between December 2006 and April 2007 Nong lam University NLU already had a liquoring machine, taste panel booths and equipment required to conduct sensory analysis prior to this project Activity 6.1: Training of WASI staff at Can Tho, WASI and NLU in sensory analytical and biometry Western Highlands Agricultural Science Institute Follow-up training was conducted on cocoa sensory and quality assessment during the collaborator’s visits between December 2006 and April 2007 The first samples of liquors were made at WASI during the Australian collaborator’s visit in December 2006 and preliminary taste panels conducted In addition to Pham Van Thao being trained at QDPI&F, WASI has two staff members, Ms Ho Thi Phuoc and Ms Dao Thi Lam Huong, who have received training in sensory work at an institute in Hanoi at a previous time Liquor samples were manufactured and tasting sessions conducted during several visits by the Australian collaborator In addition to WASI staff, a representative, Cao Xuan Loc, of DAK MAN, a cocoa exporting company, was present at tasting sessions in December 2007 and April 2008 He gave samples of cocoa that they were prepared to pay premiums for, as per the requirements of European companies they were exporting to With the presence of three trained staff, a cocoa liquoring machine and advice from industry regarding their requirements, cocoa sensory capabilities at WASI have been well established and staff are familiar with desired cocoa flavour attributes for the region Nong Lam University Tuyen-Thuc Truong had attended a course at NLU, “Sensory Evaluation of Cocoa” in September 2004 & a course “Food Sensory Evaluation” in March 2004 at the University of Technology, HCMC, before attending the training at QDPI&F She is well acquainted with sensory procedures and biometry At NLU, a well established sensory panel did exist, prior to this project run by Lam Thanh Hien With training in sensory evaluation of cocoa being completed, NLU has the capacity of comprehensive sensory evaluation of cocoa and has conducted sensory evaluation of samples produced in fermentation trials at NLU Can Tho University Nguyen van Thanh attended the sensory training at QDPI in August 2006 CTU did lack a liquoring machine but this was later rectified by purchasing a cheap alternative With the training at QDPI&F and a liquoring machine Can Tho University now has the capacity to conduct sensory evaluation of cocoa • Design, installation and advice for the use of farmer appropriate drying and fermentation equipment Project objective 10: Activity 10.1: Confirmation of most suitable fermentation and drying practices at Can Tho, NLU and WASI This component was completed in February 2008 and a manual produced (milestone 5) which has been presented previously This report is now being re-formatted With the conduct of fermentation and drying trials, each of the institutes is fully equipped and trained to perform the analyses required These trials, largely conducted by staff at CTU, NLU & WASI have been presented in detail in milestone Also each Institute has been supplied with a solar dryer In Can Tho a farmer Mr Nam Vinh has been supplied with a solar dryer and he is within a short travelling distance from Can Tho University Ben Tre province has three farmers who received a solar dryer Dak Lak Province has one farmer supplied with a solar dryer In total, eight solar dryers have been supplied during the project • Analysis and reporting of on-farm trials in Ben Tre, Western Highlands and SUCCESS sites in Ben Tre Project objective 14: Activity 14.1: Information gathered regarding progress of field trials Field trials have been reported in the fermentation and drying trial report (attachment to milestone 7) Activity 14.2: Information gained for inclusion in final report and recommendations made regarding problems encountered with smallholder and cooperative adoption These issues have both been addressed in the Farmer survey document attached 5.2 Smallholder benefits Cocoa, properly fermented and dried, and of good flavor attributes, can fetch a premium between 100-200 USD/tonne over the usual Southeast Asian bean price This means that, if this project were successful in establishing a high quality standard, Vietnamese smallholders would earn an additional 1-2 million USD per year once the foreseen target, of 10,000 in production by 2010, is reached For the Mekong Delta region, there is the potential of an additional amount of 1.8-3.6 million USD that would be earned by smallholder cocoa growers Due to similar rainfall, development of methodologies for the Mekong should be transferable to the Central Coast if cocoa production was initiated there A short survey of cocoa farmers at Ben Tre province, by SA in 2004, demonstrated that cocoa trees, within years of planting, could give 50kg of cocoa bean per month/ha The yield increases to 200kg cocoa bean/month/ha for year old trees At the present price (VND21000/kg of fermented bean) farmers could earn 3.6 billion Vietnamese Dong/month/ha (or 235 USD/month/ha) for good quality cocoa Since writing the project proposal, the price of fermented dried beans has increased to VND38000 per kilo and income from the crop has improved accordingly The impacts, of adoption of methodologies from this project, are reported in detail the farmer survey attachment 5.3 Capacity Building Training in the conduct of fermentation and drying trials and analysis of the relevant parameters has now been completed at each participating institute Training, in the use of HPLC for organic acids and GC-MS for aromatic compounds, for Vietnamese staff from each participating Institute, was conducted at QDPI&F in August 2006 Of the participating institutes, only NLU has the equipment for conduct of these analyses Training in sensory evaluation and biometry of results was also conducted at this workshop Follow up training has been conducted by the Australian collaborator during visits in December 2006 and April 2007 A mortar and pestle, for cocoa liquor or chocolate production, has been delivered to WASI and a processor for chocolate or liquor production delivered to CTU NLU had equipment for this prior to the project commencement 5.4 Publicity The following has been applied to publicise AusAID / CARD involvement • References and signage at field demonstrations, workshops and training sessions (Solar dryers and fermenting boxes demonstrated in Ben Tre Province during an “International Cocoa Workshop” Nov 2006 and a seminar on cocoa fermentation& drying and quality assessment given by the Australian collaborator, at a cocoa workshop at Nong Lam University (NLU) in April 2007)) • References in training manuals • Project publication appeared in World Cocoa Foundation Newsletter 5.5 Project Management The Vietnamese Institutes is responsible for the bulk of planning and conduction of fermentation and drying trials as well as sensory and analytical work post training The Vietnamese institutes would also be responsible for the monitoring of trials and impact on farmers work load and income and the quality attributes of cocoa from the farmer trials The Australian Institute would collaborate in the monitoring, analysis of data generated, production of extension materials and reporting of the project The Australian Institute also manages the project budget Report on Cross-Cutting Issues 6.1 Environment Cocoa growing can have fewer adverse effects on the environment than other forms of agriculture Production blocks are often small, with cocoa grown as a mixed crop with coconuts or a variety of subsistence food crops Research papers, including presentations at an ICCO conference (Brazil, 1996), report that species diversity, including mammals, birds, insects etc on cocoa blocks, may be similar to that of adjacent rainforest in cocoa growing areas Environmental risks involved in the program are therefore, regarded as minimal The project involves processing of existing and future plantings of cocoa Future plantings may impact on natural flora and fauna but the program is not related to any expansion of areas under cocoa cultivation Cocoa is also considered an environmentally benign crop In the Mekong Delta, cocoa is planted in mixed planting systems, mainly with coconut but also in very diversified systems with as much as up to 15 different species of fruit trees, nut trees, shrubs, vines and medicinal plants with a resultant, very high biodiversity 6.2 Gender and Social Issues Many cocoa farmers in Vietnam already ferment and dry their own cocoa and therefore have some experience with these practices During the field trials on optimisation of fermentation techniques, an attempt would be made to incorporate the better aspects of what is currently done into our recommended methods This incorporation would take into account materials currently used and environmental, work practice, and social factors A Success Alliance study, in 2005, has demonstrated the following: SA has four participating provinces of Binh Phuoc (1095 households), Ba Ria Vung Tau (1560), Tien Giang (1600) and Ben Tre (1679) In these provinces, female participation varied from 9% in Binh Phuoc to 20% in Ben Tre Tien Giang had 16% and Ba Ria Ving, 13% Virtually all of these participants had farming as their sole income The bulk of participants are in the age range of 26-55 which is considered an experienced labour age The bulk of participants had a median family size of 3-5 members The percentage of farmers with an education level of secondary to high school varied from 69-77% across the provinces, therefore with this level of education, a high percentage of uptake of knowledge could be expected In Binh Phuoc province 90% of farmers had an income between VND 12-100M per annum for all crops grown The median figure was VND 40M In Ba Ria Vung Tau the figures were 90% having income between VND1-45M, with a median level of VND17M In Ben Tre 90% of participants had incomes between VND1-10M and a median income of VND 4M In Tian Giang 90% had an income between VND 2-10M and median income of VND 5M In Can Tho province the only substantial cocoa grower had an annual income of VND 16M from cocoa alone The farmer survey, conducted for this project, has been completed and is presented as an attachment 10 Implementation & Sustainability Issues 7.1 Issues and Constraints One concern was that the solar driers would not suit smallholders due to price and complexity issues However it was regarded that simple units could be built to suit smallholder purposes After the visit by the QDPI&F drying specialist, prices and availability of different materials for dryer construction were compared Wooden frames were found to be the same price as those constructed with square, tubular steel, galvanized iron The iron frames are preferred as they not rot or warp with time as timber frames However the smallest sized dryers, capable of drying 100-150kg wet beans cost around VND3.2M This has since been overcome with the sourcing of a cheaper type of plastic sheeting currently available in HCMC The Israeli polycarbonate sheets, used in the project, cost about VND1.2M each and two sheets were required for a 4sqM drying bed, capable of taking 200kg wet beans Apart from the cost, there was no retail outlet for these sheets in Vietnam With the cheaper sheets available in Vietnam, costs have come down to VND1.6M for a dryer with a drying bed 2M x 2M Contacts have now been made between the Australian distributor and some companies in Vietnam It’s hoped that, by the end of the project or after that these sheets will be available at retail outlets It has also been noted during drying trials, that the recommended bed loading rate of 50kg wet beans per sq M was an underestimate of their drying capacity This figure had been arrived at based on results from a province in Papua New Guinea which has higher rainfall than the Mekong Delta region Results demonstrate that beds can be loaded up to 100kg per sq M in the dry season This means that a 2M x 2M drying bed has the capacity to dry 400kg wet beans in 4-5 days This represents a huge improvement in the capacity of farmers to process cocoa at a reasonable capital outlay This is further expanded on in the farmer survey attachment Work conducted has shown that the practices of pod storage, spreading of beans prior to placement in fermenting boxes and washing, prior to drying, does improve the quality of cocoa All these practices can be easily conducted by farmers and are described in detail in the farmer’s manual attached to milestone five 7.2 Options All procedures mentioned above have now been adequately tested and incorporated into the farmers manual 7.3 Sustainability The trials already conducted at Can Tho plus the extensive training in dry bean analysis by permanent staff from CTU, NLU and WASI means that the project has a high degree of sustainability Also with the training in sensory evaluation in Brisbane, the delivery of equipment, and follow up training by the Australian collaborator means that this aspect of the program will have sustainability 11 Next Critical Steps The next critical steps are given as per the project document activity schedule: Objective 7: Validation of smallholder benefits The necessary data, from the farmer’s 2006 initial survey and follow-up survey in 2007 has been collated and the report is to be finished shortly Objectives 15, 16, 17 & 18: Project completion report Activity 15.1: Results are established for final project workshop and final project report Activity 16.1: Final assessment of trials and activities for presentation at final project workshop in December 2008 Activity 17.1: Presentation of project achievements at final workshop attended by Can Tho, NLU, WASI, SUCCESS and another interested agencies For activities 15.1, 16.1 & 17.1, the conduct of trials and presentation of results has been completed but behind schedule Due to lateness in delivery of milestones and subsequent payments, a final project workshop can not be conducted before the project completion date Unless some way is found to allocate funds for the conduct of a project workshop post 30th June, activity 17.1 can not be held Activity 18.1: Final recommendations and project completion report written This will be completed by December 2008 Conclusion Finalization of the fermentation trials became behind schedule for a number of reasons including a need to replicate some trials conducted in Dak Lak, in the Mekong region and delays in sensory evaluation Conduction of some fermentation trials were also delayed because of the fact that cocoa is a seasonal crop and sufficient quantities of pods are not available at all times of the year An example of this is that the last project trial conducted at NLU in December 2007 was performed using pods that had been transported from Dak Lak It would have required waiting several months for ripe pods to become available at NLU However the results of fermentation trials conducted have produced several new recommendations regarding fermentation procedures that have been demonstrated to benefit cocoa quality and can be easily conducted by farmers Effective recommendations can be made, but this delay in finalising the fermentation trials has resulted in a delay in completing extension material, which in turn has delayed dissemination of information to farmers and extension officers within MARD and DOST It has also delayed on-farm trials using all of the final recommendations and an assessment of their impact on farmer livelihoods Project activities, especially as regards on-farm trials, monitoring of farmer practices and assessment of adoption of recommendations on cocoa quality, have additionally been hampered by the fact that in Can Tho Province, where the lead Vietnamese Institute is located, only one significant cocoa grower exists The nearest Province, where substantial plantings and numbers of farmers exist, is Ben Tre Province which is eighty kilometres from Can Tho This wasn’t known to the Australian counterpart at the stage of writing the proposal and staff time and funding for monitoring on-farm trials, farmer practices & 12 collection of samples for assessment over this distance was not written into the proposal or budget It is now apparent that, to have a final workshop, on the findings to date, would mean that it would have to be held post the project completion date 13 ... Bookmark not defined 1 Institute Information Project Name 013VIE05 Cocoa Fermentation and Drying and Quality Assessment in Vietnam Vietnamese Institution Can Tho University Vietnamese Project... train relevant Vietnamese organisation’s staff in assessment of cocoa quality and fermentation and drying methodologies The obvious choice for training are scientists from the Vietnamese Cocoa. .. been reported in the fermentation and drying trial report (attachment to milestone 7) Activity 14.2: Information gained for inclusion in final report and recommendations made regarding problems