Chapters 8.45

8.46-Pigeon Pea Value Addition

Sydney Dana Brown, University of Guelph, Canada

Suggested citation for this chapter.

Brown,DS. (2022) Pigeon Pea Value Addition,In Farmpedia, The Encyclopedia for Small Scale Farmers. Editor, M.N. Raizada, University of Guelph, Canada. http://www.farmpedia.org

Background

Pigeon pea is grown on over five million hectares of land in the world, making it the sixth most important food crop globally. Pigeon pea was domesticated over 3,500 years ago in India (Bharti, 2011). Pigeon pea is the main protein source for more than one billion people in the developing world (Bharti, 2011). Pigeon pea is an incredibly drought resistant crop. This allows for it to be cultivated in various areas of the world. According to Audi (2008), in Kenya, more than 70% of dried pigeon pea produced is traded for cash. Within Kenya, pigeon pea is consumed primarily as a vegetable. Kumar (2010) discusses that the pigeon pea vegetable includes high crude fiber, fat, and has highly digestible protein digestibility. In India, it is cultural custom to use the pea dried in foods such as dhal. Sangani (2014) explains in detail the idea that the variety of cooking of pigeon peas varies the bioavailability of nutrients. The focus of this chapter is to describe and evaluate products that can be created by smallholder farmers after harvest to add value and gain profit from this crop:

Dried and flavored peas

To make dried and flavoured pigeon peas, there are a few necessary pieces of equipment. The first is an oven to cook and dry the peas. The second is cooking sheets to spread the peas out to cook. Labour needs will involve labour to dry the peas, cook and flavour them, as well as package the product. Other input costs would be to heat the oven and cook the peas, as well as the cost of local spices. Target markets would be local markets, grocery stores or farmer’s markets, roadside stands or local tourist hotels. The targeting to local markets is crucial as the storage and transportation may be limiting factors for the farmer. The product could be kept in a variety of packaging such as Burlap. When using chickpea snack as a guide, the potential value addition of producing dried and flavoured pigeon pea could be as much as 5 dollars per 100 grams in North America (Amazon.com), though this profit would likely be much lower in developing countries.

Pigeon Pea Flour

Pigeon pea flour can be processed and produced by the farmer within the home. At a small scale, a famer would need a mortar and pestle (or traditional milling stones) and a sifter in order to grind the peas to make the flour and sift the flour, respectively.. The capital cost of making flour include the mortar and pestle and the containers or jars for storage of the flour. Generally, a mortar and pestle can be found in a household or made from wood or stone. The flour is produced by first drying the peas. According to Ekperigin (1989), the peas need to be dehulled and dried before grinding. The peas can be dried in an oven at forty-five degrees Celsius. The flour produced can be kept at a temperature of 18 degrees Celsius (Ekperigin, 1989) or in any cool, dark place that is available. The process of making flour is as follows. First grinding of the peas takes place. Then the farmer will begin sifting the flour, to make sure the finest parts are used and there are no pieces of bigger peas that had been missed. The potential value addition of producing pigeon pea flour, based on a comparison with chickpea flour, could be as much as $8 per 500 g, at least in Canada (Amazon.com), though this profit would likely be much lower in developing countries.

Biscuits

Biscuits are an opportunity for a smallholder farmer to use the small-scale flour produced to bake goods high in certain nutrients. Eneche (1999) reported that the biscuits made from pigeon pea contained 17.1-18.1% fats, 7.5-15.2% protein, and 60.2-66.5% digestible carbohydrates (Eneche, 1999). The equipment needed to make biscuits from pigeon peas would be, a bowl to mix the ingredients, and a tray or pan to bake the biscuits on. The ingredients for the biscuits include, sugar, salt, butter, baking powder, vanilla, and tap water. To make the biscuits, heat the oven to 450 degrees Celsius, mix together 2 cups of flour with 1 tablespoon baking powder, 1 tablespoon of sugar, ¼ teaspoon of salt, ½ cup of melted butter, and one cup of milk. Place biscuits roughly half the size of one’s hand on a cooking sheet. The biscuits need to cook for 10-12 minuets a batch. This recipe makes 15 biscuits. and can be scaled up. The link for this recipe can be found within the ‘helpful hints to get started’ section of this chapter. It is important to remember that baked goods will go stale and hard if not covered and stored properly. Ensure that the biscuits are wrapped after baking.

Critical analysis

Smallholder farmers looking to use value addition to increase their profit face many challenges and problems when aiming to market their goods. A potentially major problem is a lack of capital which will impede packaging, storage and transportation. Inadequate or unattractive packaging could pose as a problem, as well as an improper storage temperature for the products. It has been proposed that the target markets for the value addition goods be local markets such as roadside stands or hotels. However, the product to be sold should be chosen depending on the target market.

Helpful hints to get started

Website contains information informative on origin, cultivation, and uses http://www.popflock.com/learn?s=Pigeon_pea Flour made using milling stones: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YgVtuZ-jv7Q Flour made with mortal and pestle https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bfgj2JQzc0o

Biscuits recipe- with normal flour (pigeon pea flour can be substituted in)https://www.findingzest.com/so-easy-drop-biscuits-recipe/ Stew with dried pigeon pea https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APnsunmDbwM

Place to buy any equipment needed such as cooking sheet and packaging for the goods. https://www.alibaba.com/?src=sem_ggl&cmpgn=678190955&adgrp=34276573373&fditm=&tgt=kwd-14739453&locintrst=&locphyscl=9001010&mtchtyp=e&ntwrk=g&device=c&dvcmdl=&creative=148007444327&plcmnt=&plcmntcat=&p1=&p2=&aceid=&position=1t1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIi5yx3_bS3gIViURpCh0HlwOCEAAYASAAEgIRwfD_BwE

References

1. Bharti, K.A., Chen, W., Varshney, K.R. (2011) Draft Genome Sequence of Pigeonpea (Cajanus Cajan), an Orphan Legume Crop of Resource-poor Farmers. Nature Biotechnolog. 30, 83-89. https://doi.org/10.1038/nbt.2022

2. Ekperigin, M.M., Oshodi, A.A. (1989). Functional Properties of Pigeon Pea (Cajanus Cajan) Flour. Food Chemistry. 34, 187-191.https://doi.org/10.1016/0308 8146(89)90139-8

3. Eneche, H. (1999). Biscuit-making Potential of Millet/ Pigeon Pea Flour Blends. Plant Foods for Human Nutrition. 54: 21. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1008031618117

4. Kumar, R.V., Saxena, K.B., Sultana, R., (2010) Quality Nutrition Through Pigeonpea. Sci Res. 2 (11), 1335-1344. 10.4236/health.2010.211199

5. Patrick Audi , Latha Nagarajan & Richard B. Jones (2008) Seed Interventions and Cultivar Diversity in Pigeon Pea: A Farmer Based Assessment in Eastern Kenya, Journal of New Seeds, 9:2, 111-127, DOI: 10.1080/15228860802073016

6. Sangani, V.P., Patel, N.C., Bhatt, V.M., Davara, P.R., Antala, D.K. (2014) Optimization of Enzymatic Hydrolysis of Pigeon Pea for Cooking Quality of Dhal. International Journal of Agricultural and Biological Engineering. 7: 123 132. https://search.proquest.com/docview/1661322239/fulltextPDF/55199CFBAAE14372PQ/1?accountid=11233

7. Stokstad, E. (2007). The Plant Breeder and the Pea. Science, 316 (5822), 196-197. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/20035982

8. Sunkad, G., Hosamani, A., Raghu, B.N., (2015) Effect of Commercial Cold Storage Conditions and Packaging Materials on Seed Quality of Pigeon Pea (Cajanus cajan (L.) Millsp.). Environment and Ecology. 34: 1262-1266. https://www.cabdirect.org/cabdirect/FullTextPDF/2016/20163278584.pd