A group of cocoa farmers have given a positive review of the Cocoa Solar Drier trials that has been dominating quality bean exports over the last three years.

Farmers from five different provinces came together to review the solar drier initiative that was introduced to farmers by the Pacific Horticultural and Agricultural Market Access (PHAMA) with the assistance of Rural Development Project (RDP), in the hope to improve the production of cocoa and hitting the higher market.

The simple solar drier ingenuity is an original drying process for cocoa beans without using burning wood. Beans are dried inside a housing construction similarly to a greenhouse – but roofed and walled in plastic and uses just the heat of the sun beating against the plastic sheets.

The innovation started from a project experience three years ago to improve the fire-dried process that results in poor quality smoke-tainted beans often getting lower prices and even rejection.

The solar drier was invented, developed and went on to become a growing success after a series of trail efforts. The solar drier has since been adapted by neighbouring Pacific countries.

Samantha Maeke, Export Industry Development Officer from the Solomon Islands Chamber of Commerce & Industry (SICCI), considers the introduction of the cocoa solar driers by PHAMA in collaboration with RDP as revolutionary.

Maeke joined the workshop on behalf of SICCI as the representative body of the Private Sector with pledged support for the cocoa industry.

Maeke strongly believes that Solomon Islands cocoa farmers can influence and even dominate the niche or boutique market in the Pacific region if properly equipped with the upscaling of this solar innovation.

“Solomon Islands has the potential to become a high-quality cocoa hub in the South Pacific and eventually make its mark on the global ‘cocoa’ map,” she said.

Mark Johnston, advisor to RDP and the Ministry of Agriculture said there are currently 15 trial driers being used by farmers in the country.

“They [Solar Drier] worked quite well in Guadalcanal, particular the plains is much drier than some of the other areas so we extended the trial to other provinces and put in an extra 12 so there was a total of 15 under the trail,” he said.

“Really what it is designed to do is see how it worked in different environments, over different seasons and also how different farmers like it.”

The driers were tested with farmers in Guadalcanal, Makira, Malaita, Isabel and Western.

The outcomes were overwhelming.

From pleased international recipients to winning international awards in the US and France, farmers are feeling the significance of quality over quantity and they want more.

Last week’s workshop heard the dominantly positive feedbacks of farmers who have been using the Solar Drier but also laid out the challenges and problems farmers face in this strive to boost the cocoa industry.

Among issues faced by farmers is the lack of equipment to maintain the quality drying process.

“The driers have worked well, not withstanding some issues when it’s wet. But I think another thing that we spoke about [at the workshop] was the drying of the cocoa was just one aspect of producing good quality cocoa,” said PHAMA country manager Andrew Piper.

“So there’s all these other elements of it like the fermentation of the cocoa, the storage of it after it’s been dried and fermented and how it’s handled and transported and so on.

“We spoke about a lot of things and ways that farmers can ensure that the good quality that they’ve created is maintained through the supply chain.”

Piper said farmers are now looking at the marketing options they have for their quality beans.

He urged farmers to collaborate more to get good marketing connections, referring to some farmers’ who’ve already established a good relationship in the higher market.

–SICCI PRESS