By Venance George, The Citizen Correspondent
Morogoro. Inspite of a rapid increase in the number of small scale producers and expanding demand for their products, marketing mechanism of the industry in Tanzania has been the biggest hurdle.

But notable challenges the small scale groups of producers face, simply remain their inability to penetrate into the international market due to poor quality and quantity as well a failure to attain the required standard in the packaging of their agro products.

The government and stakeholders have seen these setbacks and have taken  some initiatives to improve the situation, particularly in quality and quantity, and modernise the packaging process  so as to make the products meet the market demands.

Facing similar problems, Morogoro-based Ben’s Winery (MBW), an enterprising member of a fruit processing cluster in Morogoro for several years, has resorted to finding market solution to its processed juice, wine and vegetables of various kinds.

According to MBW director, Professor Bendatunguka Tiisekwa, the group has successfully managed to put together small scale entrepreneurs who produce various fruit and vegetable products. These include entrepreneurs who   process pineapple, passion, rosella, banana and mango juices. Other products produced by MBW’s members are dried bananas, dried mangoes and dried vegetables.

“Processing and packaging is a long process, though in most cases it depends on the nature of  product. Fruits juice takes a complex process, but preparation of dried vegetables is very simple to understand and practice,” said Prof Tiisekwa to a team of journalists from different media houses who recently visited the firm’s production site at Kihonda in Morogoro to observe the operations.

 The first stop of their tour was at the reception of raw materials. This is the site where the raw materials received in appropriate conditions can be stored until they are in the process.

One of the notable sites at the processing firm was the raw materials shed that  looked simple, but met certain special standards in terms of temperature, humidity, cleanliness, and exposure to sunlight.

“It is important to consider that the quality of most raw materials rapidly deteriorates and for that reason the temperature must be as low as possible; it must be cool. The raw materials must not be directly exposed to sunlight. If refrigeration system is not available, the materials must be collected in the cool hours of the day,” he said.

Adding further, the assistant lecturer Mr. Richard Mongi from Sokoine University of Agriculture, Faculty of Science and Food Technology says if the storage site is cool, it is important for the humidity to be relatively high to prevent the material from dehydrating and losing its quality.

“This problem does not apply to areas with a high relative humidity, in which case the only requirement is to find a cool site,” he notes.

He further says it is important to ensure that the raw materials storage area is not  used for the storage of other products that might be contaminated, such as pesticides, paint, or cleaning utensils, all of which must be kept in specially designated areas.

“It must be put into consideration that the quality of the product will reflect the quality of the raw material from which it was made; it is therefore important to take this aspect into due account,” he emphasised.

The lecturer also told the media delegation that methodologies applied to dry fruits actually take a long process. He emphasised that a dried fruit comes after most of its original water content has been removed either naturally, through sun drying, or through the use of specialised dryers or dehydrators.

According to Prof Mongi, a dried fruit has been a long tradition, dating back to the fourth millennium  in Mesopotamia.

It  is prized because of its sweet taste, nutritive value and long shelf life.

“Today, dried fruits consumption is widespread. Nearly half of the dried fruits sold such as pineapples and mangoes, papaya are infused with a sweetener  prior to drying,” he explains.

Speaking on quality control for small scale industries in the country, Prof Tiisekwa said ideally, quality control operations should be performed in small quarters, which may also be separated from other areas by wood panels, where the basic tests is required to establish the quality of a given raw material.

“This area should preferably be equipped with a small sink, running water and a counter where tests may be carried out,” he says.

About the packaging process, the director said it must be performed in such a way that a minimum head-space is left to produce the vacuum and allow the product to expand at the different temperatures which it undergoes during the process. The package must have a head-space of 5.0 mm after the hot product is filled.

He says the sealing process is one of the critical and most important stages of the process since it determines to a great extent the quality of the finished product.

 “We cannot compete with foreign products which are always produced in high quality and sold less, that’s why people prefer imported products. We are now forced to end these wrong thoughts by promoting locally made products,” he said.

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