Hot-air-dried fruits and vegetables (e.g. onions) Opportunity Description: All sorts of dried vegetables and fruits. This study will use sliced onion as an example. As a further note, the onion business can be combined with garlic due to similarity in odor intensity. |
  PRODUCT: Dried fruit/vegetable e.g. onion Sector: Sustainable Agriculture and Food Processing Market: Local consumers, Export Initial Investment Required: EGP 990,000 Details Available: Opportunity Study |
Market Potential: Traders for local markets. Higher quality drying of vegetables and fruits for export, grinding and packing. Supply: Fresh produce - fresh onion in this case Process: Slicing of onions, hot air drying using steam radiators. Requires chamber dimensions of 3x7x3 - Bricks - lined with stainless steel Human Resources: Technical and Business Development Manager – 1 Operations and Maintenance – 2 Financial: CAPEX required EGP 468,000 3-month OPEX required EGP 522,000 IRR expected is 61% Payback period around 2.3 years Risk: Risk – lack of awareness of farmers to produce high quality harvest that is suitable. Mitigation - partnership with farmers along with strong awareness for post-harvest to ensure good agricultural practices. Risk - marketing challenges: attempt to market the product before production Mitigation - requires strong business development. IMPACT: Environmental - Decrease waste in produce by providing longer shelf life product. Social - Increase return on agriculture activities. |
