Palm | Kelapa Sawit

Abstract: Impact of cocoa processing technologies in free fatty acids formation in stored raw cocoa beans. The quality of raw cocoa beans depends widely on their free fatty acids (FFA) content. High FFA content is a serious quality defect and reduces the technical and economic value of the cocoa beans. 

The work investigates the influence of cocoa processing technologies on FFA formation during storage of raw cocoa beans. Different samples of ferment dried cocoa beans purchased from Cote d’Ivoire were stored and analysed for FFA content. Very low FFA contents were found in whole healthy cocoa beans generally complied with UE standards (1.75% oleic acid equivalent) throughout storage while high FFA content was found in poor quality and broken healthy beans. The formation of FFA did not depend on the genotype or on cocoa post-harvest processing technologies. However, high and increasing FFA contents were observed in defective cocoa beans and could be attributed probably to the activity of microflora which in turn were associated with initial quality and loss of physical integrity of the cocoa beans.

Study: Applying Machine Learning to Agricultural Data - Abstract: Many techniques have been developed for learning rules and relationships automatically from diverse data sets, to simplify the often tedious and error-prone process of acquiring knowledge from empirical data. While these techniques are plausible, theoretically wellfounded, and perform well on more or less artificial test data sets, they depend on their ability to make sense of real-world data.

This paper describes a project that is applying a range of machine learning strategies to problems in agriculture and horticulture. We briefly survey some of the techniques emerging from machine learning research, describe a software workbench for experimenting with a variety of techniques on real-world data sets, and describe a case study of dairy herd management in which culling rules were inferred from a medium-sized database of herd information.

Author: Robert J. McQueen, Management Systems, University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand. Stephen R. Garner, Craig G. Nevill-Manning, Ian H. Witten. Computer Science, University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand.

Keywords: agriculture, horticulture, machine, agricultural, data, information, new zealand, database, management, software

Abstract - Kenya Agricultural Commodity Exchange (KACE): Linking smallscale farmers to markets Abstract: - KACE is the first and only national agricultural commodity exchange in Kenya, and it differentiates itself by dealing with a variety of commodities of which maize and beans are the most heavily traded. KACE acting as an intermediary further empowers rural farmers with market information and provides capacity enhancement, business training and technical assistance.

In contrast, the Nairobi Coffee Exchange and the Tea Auction each trade one commodity each. Prior to the formation of KACE, smallscale farmers lacked access to mainstream markets for agricultural produce, leaving them vulnerable to the forces of the market, as well as to exploitation by country buyers. Smallscale farmers were offered very low prices because individual farmers generally produce small amounts that translate into poor bargaining power. Small scale farmers were characterized by small farms, low education, low levels of technology, lack of access to quality markets and low levels of organization. In addition to this, for any one crop, the marketing chain consists of multiple middlemen, each taking a margin at every stage between producer and consumer and to have a competitive final price the small scale farmer bears the losses. The country buyers took an additional part of this margin, and were not above squeezing prices to the extent that the subsistence farmers at the bottom of this chain were often forced to sustain losses. In the long term this was clearly not sustainable, as evidenced by rising poverty levels.

The main activities of KACE include linking farmers and mainstream buyers by collecting information on the prices in different markets of various commodities on a daily basis from market vendors then availing them to the farmers in real time. Modern information communication technology (ICT) makes this possible through mobile phone handsets and personal computers. Trades are made through competitive bids and offers, once a buyer and a seller agree to trade, KACE acts as a clearing house and arranges the financial and logistical aspects of the sale thus giving the farmers options as well as bargaining power. KACE’s services include: a mobile phone short message service (SMS), interactive voice response (IVR) service, daily radio bulletins, a live radio auction service and online computer services.

Author: Winifred Karugu. Lead organization: MSME. Sector: Agriculture, ICT. Inclusion of the poor: Consumer. Theme(s): Environmental impact, Climate Change, Public‐Private Partnerships. Country: Kenya.

ABSTRACT: A Study of Chunk Rubber from Recycled Tires as a Road Construction Material; Abstract: - The feasibility of using large rubber chunks from shredded tires as aggregates in coldmixes for road construction was investigated in this study. The research was directed toward development of a chunk rubber asphalt concrete mix design for low volume road construction using local aggregate, shredded tire rubber chunks and a cationic emulsion.

A set of mixes using different combinations of chunk rubber content, emulsion content and fly ash content were tested. Marshall stability results of mixes with 10% Type C fly ash showed optimum emulsion contents of 6.8, 7.3 and 7.8% for 2, 4 and 6% rubber, respectively. The Marshall stability values decreased for increasing rubber contents. The target Marshall stability value of a suitable cold mix at 43ºC was required to be 2225 N. A mix with 10% Type C fly ash, 2% rubber and 7% emulsion showed an average Marshall stability value of 1600 N. Based on the Marshall stability results, some of these mixes appeared to be suitable as binder courses or stabilized drainable bases for low volume roads. If 9 kg of chunk rubber equivalent is produced per tire, then a one km long and 7.3 m wide low-volume road with a 100 mm thick base built with this mix can incorporate approximately 3350 tires. This application can minimize the scrap-tire waste problems of rural communities.

By: M. Hossain1, M. Sadeq1, L. Funk1 and R. Maag2, 1Department of Civil

Engineering, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS 66506 and 2Kansas

Department of Transportation, Topeka, KS 66611