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Friday, March 25 • 2:30pm - 4:00pm
How the Understanding of Local Challenges and Opportunities Influenced the Design of Post-harvesting Technology in Haiti

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Breadfruit is an abundant but underutilized carbohydrate fruit that can be shredded, dried and ground into gluten-free flour. For many island nations, locally produced flour could replace imported cereals. Several organizations have collaborated with customer focus groups in Haiti to develop recipes and to design manual processing equipment. This paper describes the evolution of the shredder and insights gained in the challenging Haitian marketplace. Technological entrepreneurship requires that a need be met at a profit with a technology that works well in the customer's environment. One key element in the development of the process has been an understanding of the scale at which a new type of harvesting technique is practical and profitable. Originally designed for village-level female cooperatives using a holistic participatory framework, the manual shredder design evolved to serve a larger organizational structure.


Friday March 25, 2011 2:30pm - 4:00pm EDT
Whitney