On-Farm Evaluation of Tools for Karkade Peeling
Abdelrahman K. Osman, Abdalatif A. Suliman
and Mahmoud A. Mekki
INTRODUCTION
Roselle (Hibiscus sabdariffa L.), known in Sudan as Karkade, is a popular cash crop throughout western Sudan, especially, North Kordofan State. The crop is grown
exclusively under rain-fed conditions in traditional farming systems. It is an important source of income for the small scale farmers in the area.
The commercial part of the crop is the fleshy calyx (sepals), surrounding the fruit (seed boll) in the flower. The calyces are peeled (separated) from the seed boll by
hand. It is time and labour consuming operation and this constitutes one of the k ey factors affecting the expansion of the crop area. Moreover, this method of harvesting is
affecting the crop quality because full flowers and calyces break in parts and high level of impurities such as sand and/or plant trash is frequently present.
Major quality concerns of the export market include high physical purity and large proportion of full flowers (whole calyx). Accordingly, Sudanese Standards and
Metrology Organization (SSMO) has graded the crop into four grade standards .Crop of more than 95% full flowers and less than 1% impurities is a first grade crop.