IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/fzy/fuzeco/vxixy2014i2p3-19.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Selection Of Cocoa Post-Harvest Technology Using Fuzzy Logic

Author

Listed:
  • Lenin Vera-Montenegro

    (Carrera de Ingeniería Agrícola, Escuela Superior Politécnica Agropecuaria de Manabí, Av. 10 de Agosto y Granda Centeno, Calceta, Manabí, Ecuador)

  • Amparo Baviera-Puig

    (Department of Economics and Social Sciences, Universitat Politècnica de València, Camino de Vera, Valencia, 46022, Spain)

  • Jose-Maria Garcia-Alvarez-Coque

    (Department of Economics and Social Sciences. Universitat Politècnica de València, Camino de Vera, Valencia, 46022, Spain)

Abstract

Ecuador supplies 70% of the world’s fine aroma cocoa (Theobroma cacao), which is later used in the manufacture of high quality chocolates. The postharvest is an essential process for producers seeking a share of this market. The aim of this paper is to define a model for selecting a postharvest technology, using fuzzy logic and the following criteria: quality, processing costs, and technology adoption capability for small producers. The method is not data demanding, and supplies results that qualify those obtained in classical evaluations that only consider the criterion of quality. The most highly valued technology yields good quality cocoa, has low processing costs, and is easy to adopt. Two technologies meet these requirements: (i) heap fermentation and drying with concrete floors; and (ii) fermentation in bags and drying with concrete floors. These technologies are deemed “excellent”. Both methods employ the same type of drying, but differ in their type of fermentation. Heap fermentation and drying with racks receives the next highest rating (“very good”). We conclude that fuzzy logic offers a better approximation to the reality of small-scale cocoa production, thanks to its use of multiple criteria to select postharvest technologies.

Suggested Citation

  • Lenin Vera-Montenegro & Amparo Baviera-Puig & Jose-Maria Garcia-Alvarez-Coque, 2014. "Selection Of Cocoa Post-Harvest Technology Using Fuzzy Logic," Fuzzy Economic Review, International Association for Fuzzy-set Management and Economy (SIGEF), vol. 0(2), pages 3-19, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:fzy:fuzeco:v:xix:y:2014:i:2:p:3-19
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    To our knowledge, this item is not available for download. To find whether it is available, there are three options:
    1. Check below whether another version of this item is available online.
    2. Check on the provider's web page whether it is in fact available.
    3. Perform a search for a similarly titled item that would be available.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    cocoa; postharvest; fermentation; drying; fuzzy logic;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • Q16 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Agriculture - - - R&D; Agricultural Technology; Biofuels; Agricultural Extension Services
    • C02 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - General - - - Mathematical Economics

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:fzy:fuzeco:v:xix:y:2014:i:2:p:3-19. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Aurelio Fernandez (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/sigefea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.