VIETNAM CASHEW NUT PROCESSING TECHNOLOGY : GO LATER AND RETURN EARLIER

In 1983, the National Conference on Cashew was held in Binh Duong, the Statedetermined that cashew was a tree with commodity valuenecessary to focus on investment After that , it is for export. conference,theareaandoutputofcashewnutincreasedrapidly.

Suggestion of Mr. Pham Hung

Mr. Nguyen Van Lang

- former Vice President of Vietnam Cashew Association, who had much "destiny" in the beginning of the cashew processing industry (he passed away in late 2017), said, in the early 1980s, Mr. Pham Hung - Vice Chairman of Council of Ministers (known as ChairmanoftheCouncilofMinisters, i.e.thePrimeMinisterin1987),knew thathewasoneofthepeoplewhohad merit in exporting the first batch of raw cashew nuts after 1975, presented him with a box of roasted cashew kernel and suggested to study for processing, instead of raw export. That was the motivation for the group of engineers of the Export AgriculturalProductEnterpriseofHo ChiMinhCityCityunderImexco(Ho Chi Minh City General Import Export Company ) pioneered in research on cashew nut processing methods and technology from early 1980s. The group was led by Mr. Nguyen Van Men along with Mr. Nguyen Van Langwhowasacommercialofficerat that time, engineer Nguyen Thanh Phu, Nguyen Van Loi, Nguyen Minh Son, Le Cong Thanh.... to organize the implementation at Binh Dong Cashew Export Processing Factory, District 8 (belonging to Ho Chi Minh City's Export Agricultural Product Enterprise). It could be seen as the beginning of the mechanical cashew processing industry in Vietnam. In

1984, processing cashew equipment in Vietnam was according to the method of dipping nuts to cut, the cost was only 10% of imported equipment, initially realizing Mr. PhamHung'swish.

Equipmentimprovement

It can be said that the introduction of cashew processing equipment in Vietnam createda"revolution"fromexporting raw cashew nuts to exporting cashew kernels. At first, the cashew industry had great merit in dealing with idle labors in rural areas, sometimes up to 350,000 workers. But in the early 2000s, labor was scarce when industrial zones in the Southeast region - the raw material concentration area of the cashew industry appeared more and more, the demand for labor was very high, especially the garment industry. attracted a large number of workers from the cashew industry. The original rudimentary equipment in processingwasnolongersuitable.

After many seminars, recognizing expert opinions, the Executive Members' Board of VINACAS evaluated that there was currently some groups of engineers and units that successfully tested the generations of automatic cashew shelling machine and testa peeling machine, if this force was gathered, innovation was maintained, Vietnam will create a new system of cashew shellingandtestapeelingmachines.

The procedure for processing cashew by machinery helps increase processing capacity by 1.5 times,reducingthetimeinthe processing cycle through stagesfrom30%to50%,helps shorten the processing time from delivery from warehouse to packing down to 7 days instead of 13-14 days. This is a breakthrough in cashew processing by machinery, helping increase product value and improve economic efficiency by reducing production costs by 30% - 40%. By-products such as cashew shells are refined into cashew nut shell liquid, exportedatahighprice.

In 2008, with the approval of the Government, VINACAS implemented the state-level program of "Improving technology, designing and manufacturing automatic cashew shelling machine and testa peeling machine in export cashew kernel processing line", code KC.07.DA13/06-10. Thereby, VINACAS gathered many scientists, engineers and enterprises so that technology and equipment continued to be improved, especially the cashewshellseparationstage.

Technologymastering

After two years of implementation, the program was excellently evaluated by the State Science Council (Council) (in 2010), with the following parameters: Cashew shell cutting machine reduces the percentageofbrokennutstolessthan 10% compared to over 30% of foreign equipment (with more than 10% manual labor), one machine cuts 1.6 tons of nuts/shift (equivalent to 10 - 12 workers). For testa peeling machine, broken kernel rate is less than13.7%,yieldofnearly1.6tonsof nuts/shift (10 kg manual/labor/shift), cleanliness over 86%. It could be said thatalmostall13stagesincashewnut processing, such as cutting, separating and testa peeling are mechanized, reducing nearly 80% of labor.

The Council requested the program to be implemented quickly, so the Board of Directors immediatelyorganizedthetransferto Nhat Huy, Donafoods and Nam Long factories. From 2011-2012, new generations of Vietnamese cashew shelling machines and testa peeling machines were put into operation. The device's limitations and defects were continuously improved by the enterprises. The following ten years were a "boom" in the installation of equipment in factories, contributing to the transformation of Vietnam cashew industry from manual production to production by machinery, partly automated, bringing great socio-economic benefits: labor productivity increased by more than 10 times, food hygiene and safety were basically improved. Customers from different countries when visiting factories had to say: Great!

Talking about processing technology “Made in Vietnam ”, Mr. Pham Van Cong, President of VINACAS emphasized: “VINACAS made a clear mark through implementing KC.07.DA13/06-10 Science and Technology program, organizing free demonstrations and technology transfer to members. Thanks to the application of science and technology, mechanization and automation of the cashew kernel processing industry solved a series of problems, from labor scarcity, environmental pollution to product quality management, especially the issue of ensuring food safety and hygiene that was very concerned by cashewimportingcountries.

Combination with technology and the introduction of cashew shelling machine and testa peeling machine, colour grading, sizing machines, etc. helped the cashew industry reduce 70% - 80% of labor. The broken kernel rate significantly reduced compared to the previous manual production, especially the broken kernel rate decreased less than foreign similar equipment.

The procedure for processing cashew by machinery helps increase processing capacity by 1.5 times, reducing the time in the processing cycle through stages from 30% to 50%, helps shorten the processing time from delivery from warehouse to packing down to 7 days instead of 13-14 days. This is a breakthrough in cashew processing by machinery, helping increase product value and improve economic efficiency by reducing production costsby30%-40%.By-productssuch as cashew shells are refined into cashew nut shell liquid, exported at a highprice.

According to VINACAS

President Pham Van Cong, the biggest advantage of Vietnam cashew industry is the world's most advanced processing technology implemented by Vietnamese people. That is the great merit of the pioneers and is now the successor generation with well-trained engineers and workers, forming a strong team with cashew processing machinery and equipment manufacturing enterprises for domestic and export demand.

In early December 2017, The Wall Street Journal (USA) in the article " Who brought Vietnam to the position of dominating the world cashew manufacturing industry? ” wrote: “Now, Vietnam is the king of cashew nuts in the world thanks to the developedprocessingtechnology…''.