Moringa oleifera is a multipurpose and exceptionally nutritious vegetable tree with a variety of potential uses. It is a sub-tropical species that is known by different regional names as benzolive, drumstick tree, kelor, marango, mulangay, nebeday, saijhan, mooringai and sajna.

The Problem-Drying the Moringa Oleifera leaves without losing nutritional values

Drying the leaves of Morninga Oleifera is the most critical aspect of processing the product. The leaves should be dried in a place protected from sunlight to prevent the loss of vitamins and minerals. Drying the leaves of Morninga Oleifera is the most critical aspect of processing the product. The drying should be done immediately after harvest to prevent the growth of molds and to achieve the best quality of the dried leaves.

In doing so, MAI incurred very high electricity expenses as they used a huge electric oven, which consumed high amount of electricity to produce acceptable dryness of the product .

Also, the drying process took a long time, which was an added problem. Sometimes, MAI also used organic fuels like “Bagasse” or charcoal but such fuels left carbon on the dried leaves. This conventional method forced MAI to maintain high temperature to make the drying time f aster but this increased the risk of damaging or decreasing the quality of the product since high temperature has negative effects.