I recently had the opportunity to see a joint project between an American NGO and the Indonesian Department of Agriculture to develop processing facilities where the mango (if you're not real familiar with mango, think a big oblong peach with green skin, a long, flat seed in the middle, and extremely delicious) is turned into a dried fruit product. Fresh mango lasts about a week once its ripe. Dried mango lasts a year. During the flush of mango season (right now) fresh mango sells for as low as 2,000 rupiah (thats about 22 cents) per kilogram (2.2 pounds). If sold in an export market to Singapore or Japan, dried mango has the potential to sell for around 40,000 rupiah (around $4.50) per kilogram. Now of course there is a great deal of shrinkage in overall weight, but this is a much more profitable option for mango farmers. In one project site, the farmers bring in money during the off-season making gravel from stones by pounding on them with hand-held hammers all day long. They spend half a day filling up a good-sized sack (bigger than a typical feedsack) with gravel and can sell it for about 3000 rupiah (33 cents).
The Drying Oven
Finished Product
I recently had the opportunity to see a joint project between an American NGO and the Indonesian Department of Agriculture to develop processing facilities where the mango (if you're not real familiar with mango, think a big oblong peach with green skin, a long, flat seed in the middle, and extremely delicious) is turned into a dried fruit product. Fresh mango lasts about a week once its ripe. Dried mango lasts a year. During the flush of mango season (right now) fresh mango sells for as low as 2,000 rupiah (thats about 22 cents) per kilogram (2.2 pounds). If sold in an export market to Singapore or Japan, dried mango has the potential to sell for around 40,000 rupiah (around $4.50) per kilogram. Now of course there is a great deal of shrinkage in overall weight, but this is a much more profitable option for mango farmers. In one project site, the farmers bring in money during the off-season making gravel from stones by pounding on them with hand-held hammers all day long. They spend half a day filling up a good-sized sack (bigger than a typical feedsack) with gravel and can sell it for about 3000 rupiah (33 cents).
The Drying Oven
Finished Product