Shallot drying systems in Mali
What the crop demands, what the country imposes, and what that means for capacity.
The Dogon country around Bandiagara grows shallot in tiny irrigated garden plots on the escarpment, in one of the most intensive and most celebrated horticultural systems in West Africa. The crop is traditionally preserved by pounding into balls and sun-drying — effective, laborious, and inconsistent in a way that caps what the product can be sold as.
The situation in Mali
Two quite separate agricultural countries share one border. The south around Sikasso is humid, green and grows mango, cotton and cereals; the inland delta and the Sahel run on livestock and river fish. Both are a long way from a port — Dakar and Abidjan are each a multi-day haul — so anything sold beyond the region has to be stable at ambient temperature before it moves.
Growing regions. Sikasso and Koutiala in the south, the Niger inland delta around Mopti
What shallot drying demands
Shallot behaves like onion but carries more sugar and more value, and it is grown by smallholders in tight, intensively irrigated plots. It browns faster than onion during slicing, so the interval between the knife and the tray matters more.
Harvest calendar
February to May, from dry-season irrigated plots. Water availability on the escarpment sets the window rather than rainfall.
The working campaign window as the trade runs it. It shifts a fortnight either way with the rains.
Process parameters
| Parameter | Value |
|---|---|
| Drying temperature | 55–60 °C |
| Final moisture | 6–8 % |
| Yield (fresh : dried) | 8 : 1 |
| Cycle time | 14–20 h |
Sizing starting points from ordinary processing practice, not a validated recipe for your product. Confirm against your own intake and your buyer’s specification.
Worked sizing example
For a unit taking 6 tonnes of fresh product a day, at a yield of 8 : 1:
Illustrative figures calculated from the yield and campaign window above. They size a conversation; they do not describe any existing installation.
Fuel available in Mali
Cotton stalk from the Koutiala and Sikasso basin is the main resource. Rice husk from the Office du Niger is abundant but very ashy — blend it.
- Base load. Cotton stalk · Shea cake and shell · Rice husk
- Supplement. Corn cob · Groundnut shell · Sesame stalk · Dried mango peel
See all 27 fuels and their properties
Market and buyer requirements
Domestic and regional as a seasoning base, with real potential in dried and powdered form for the urban and export food-processing trade if consistency can be delivered.
Explore further
The systems that hold this profile
Other crops in Mali
Frequently asked questions
What does drying change for Dogon shallot?
Consistency, mostly. The traditional pounded-and-sun-dried ball is effective but variable, which caps what it can be sold as. Sliced at 4–6 mm and dried to 6–8 % moisture at 55–60 °C, the same crop becomes a gradeable ingredient with a specification a buyer can write into a contract.
Does shallot brown like onion?
Faster. It carries more sugar than onion, so the interval between slicing and loading matters more: a tray that waits an hour has already lost colour before the 55–60 °C cycle starts. The practical fix is sizing the dip and transfer to keep pace with the cutting bench.
What yield should be expected?
About 8 : 1 fresh to dried, slightly better than onion because shallot carries more solids. A 6 t/day intake produces around 750 kg of dried product daily on a 14 to 20 hour cycle at 55–60 °C — roughly 70 tonnes across a February-to-May season.
Size a unit in Mali
Tell us your daily fresh volume and target output, and we will size the chambers, the burner and the fuel available around your site.
Request a quote