Performance evaluation of cassava drying technologies: a case study from Uganda

Dried cassava chips have varied applications by end users that include breweries, confectionaries, starch and flour for food. In Uganda, over 80% of Cassava farmers dry their products by open sun drying and direct passive solar dryers. However, these two drying practices produce varying quality of dried products which may not be good all for the various end users. The quality of dried products depends on factors like cassava chip size, drying technology, temperature, air flow and relative humidity. The objective of this study was to assess the performance of cassava sun drying on a raised platform and drying in a direct passive solar dryer. The two drying technologies were assessed basing on drying rate and product quality of cassava using a randomized complete block design experiment. The measurements considered for drying rate and quality assessment were drying time, moisture content, pH, peak viscosity, starch content and microbial contamination in terms of Total plate count (TPC), Total coliforms (TC) and Yeast and moulds (YM). Results showed that samples dried on the raised platform had higher drying rates than those dried in solar dryer. Additionally, Cassava samples dried on the raised platform showed superior quality in terms of microbial contamination compared to samples dried in the solar dryer.