Chili Production and Post-Harvest Handling Training
Technical Area
- Agriculture & Economic Growth
CLIENT
- United States Agency for International Development (USAID)
Region
- Asia
- North America
Duration
- – 2018
Enhancing knowledge, technology, and market linkages for Pakistan’s chili pepper value chain actors.
To improve the Pakistan chili industry’s knowledge of modern chili value chain production, post-harvest handling, processing, and marketing, Dexis designed a U.S.-based training customized to the roles and needs of 16 Pakistani chili industry professionals including farmers, processors, and other industry actors. The program enhanced the participants’ knowledge of the application of Good Agricultural Practices (GAP), Good Drying Practices (GDP), Good Harvesting Practices (GHP), and Good Storage Practices (GSP) to include seed selection, judicious use of water and fertilization, pest management, proper post-harvest care, processing, and value addition of chilies, as well as the identification of potential markets.
The activity took place in Albuquerque and Las Cruces, New Mexico (the largest producer of chilies in the United States and home to thousands of chili-industry-related public and private value chain actors), as well as New Mexico State University (NMSU) and its Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, Food Safety Lab, Chile Pepper Institute, and Agricultural Economics Faculty, which focus on chili pepper research and defining sectoral best practices. The experiential training consisted of on-site visits to area chili farmers, traders, processors, and other private-sector actors; classroom and workshop-based informational sessions at NMSU and associated entities with recognized chili researchers and academicians; and attendance at the Chile Pepper Institute’s annual New Mexico Chile Conference, “Solutions for Growers, Processors and Producers,” in February 2018. It is the largest conference worldwide and provides business linkage opportunities for participants as well as exposure to new products and marketing approaches.