沙漠研究 19-1, 375- 378 (2009 )Journal of Arid Land Studies“Desert Technology IX ”
Refereed Paper

Advanced Processing of Useful Food Material for the Establishmentof a Regional Development Model in Arid Areas
Kenichi KASHIWAGI1, Hiroko ISODA1, Junkyu HAN1, Mitsuteru IRIE1,Hiroshi NABETANI2, Mitsutoshi NAKAJIMA1
Abstract: As it faces growing international competitiveness, one of the main challenges for theagro-food sector in North Africa is to enhance its productivity and level of technology. By
applying the ‘Bioassay Screening System’ method, various biological activities were detectedin the components of Tunisian olive and aromatic plants, including anti-oxidation,
anti-pathogens and anti-inflammation. The scientific detection of biological activities
provides the potential to increase the value-added of traditional products, and it can also be
applied to functional foods and cosmetics as well as medicines for the development of a new‘market of functional foods’. The introduction of advanced technology for food processing
and efficient distribution to those useful bio-resources would add another value, and would
open the door to a new stage of rural and regional development. Such development, based on
ideas and knowledge inspired by traditional bioresources, would not only provide a new way toincrease the competitiveness of local industries, but also would contribute to job creation andstabilization of the regional economy. The purpose of this paper is to conceptualize andpropose a basic model of regional development, which takes a systematic approach to the useof locally available food material and integrating several approaches, such as the detection ofbiological activities, advanced processing, an efficient distribution system and the effective useof bio-resources.
Keywords: Bioassay screening system, Effective use of useful bio-resources, Efficient
distribution, Food processing, Regional development

1. Introduction
Economic integration with the world market is almost inevitable for North Africa as a consequence ofhaving concluded the Association Agreement under the framework of the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership(Barcelona Process), and of the increasing discipline with respect to free trade in the process of multi- andbilateral trade negotiationsA). In the face of growing international competitiveness, one of the main challenges
for the agro-food sector in North Africa is the enhancement of productivity and the level of technology.
However, most historical experience suggests that development and expansion based upon endowed factor ofproduction, namely the accumulation of capital which is mostly transformed by natural resources, eventually
results in diminishing returns to scale in the economy. This paper proposes an alternative idea that attempts totransit to the increasing returns of the economy, in particular with agro-food sector in North Africa, byintroducing the notion that an ‘idea’ is a main source of growth and that ‘knowledge’ is a substantial factor ofproduction. This approach integrates the scientific detection of biological activities in locally available
bio-resources with an advanced processing, an efficient distribution and an effective use of bio-resources. This
integrated approach could provide the key to a sustainable path for regional development. Hence, the purposeof this paper is to conceptualize and propose a basic model of regional development in North Africa, in particular,
by developing a systematic approach through the use of locally available food materials in arid areas.
2. Integrated Approach
It is widely recognized that the traditional approach to the development of the agro-food sector isresource-based. Its development depends upon the improvement of the productivity of land and labor. The
history of agricultural development suggests that one of the traditional innovations is designing a farming system
for more intensive cropping without causing depletion in soil fertility. The ‘Agricultural Revolution’, observedin Europe from the seventeenth to the end of the nineteenth century, is a typical example based on the recycling
12Alliance for Research on North Africa (ARENA), University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8572, JapanNational Food Research Institute (NFRI) / National Agriculture and Food Research Organization (NARO), Tsukuba,
Ibaraki 305-8642, Japan

376of plant nutrients and the crop-rotation system.
Find locally available, useful Bio-resources
However, science-based agriculture is anotherDetection of various biological
Advanced technology ofapproach, where progress is achieved byprocessing and efficient distribution
activities by Bioassay
introducing the application of chemical
Effective use includes bio-energy use and recycling
fertilizer and improvements in crop varieties.
The ‘Green Revolution’ in tropical Asia
Increase value-added of local Bio-resources
between the 1940s and the 1960s introduced
Develop Seeds for Industrialization
significant innovations in productivity based(Functional food, cosmetics, medicine etc.)
upon scientific knowledge and improved theyields of crop varieties, i.e. high-yielding
Develop cycle ofDevelop
Develop laborattraction of FDI
varieties. Yet, both these approaches depend entrepreneurship intensive industries
and promotion of Export
upon improving the productivity of land andlabor.
Reduce deficit in
Stabilize regional economy:
balance of payment:
In contrast, the approach described inPoverty reduction
Reduce import of raw materials
Figure 1 is different from the traditional one.
and Job creationand intermediate inputs
It has four main functions.
First, thisFig.
1.
IntegratedApproachtoRegionalDevelopment.
approach starts by finding potential Figure 1. Integrated Approach to Regional Development
bio-resources. Second, various biologicalactivities are detected in the locally available bio-resources with the ‘Bioassay Screening System’. Third, theadvanced processing of micro- and nanotechnologies, for instance ‘emulsification’, are introduced into theprocessing of the bio-resources. Fourth, the effective use of bio-resources, including use for energy andrecycling is also considered. The introduction of efficient distribution and marketing will develop a newmarket that emerged by the detection of biological activities and food processing. It should be noted that thisapproach depends mainly upon locally available factors of production. The only external factor introduced will
be scientific knowledge. With a combination of a more efficient system of distribution and the use of recycling,such as the use of olive oil residue, the seeds of industrialization will open the door to a new stage of rural andregional development. This new stage does not depend upon the improvement of either labour or land
productivity; it depends upon improving the quality of the products by increasing the value added. Such an
integrated approach not only has the potential to improve the added value of traditional plants, but also has thepotential to develop a new market of functional foods, cosmetics and medicines.
This integrated approach will have three effects on regional development. First, ideas inspired by local
products promote entrepreneurship. By depending less upon the import of raw materials, intermediate andcapital inputs, the only new factors to be imported in the process of production are new ideas and knowledge.
Second, the development of region-based industries using locally available resources contributes to job creation,
to the development of labor intensive industries and to reducing out-migration and urban unemployment. Third,
the development of the seeds of industrialization will attract foreign direct investment (FDI). The dynamiceffect, i.e. the cycle of the attraction of FDI and the promotion of exports, is the key to development. Inaddition, development based on local products that incorporate new ideas and knowledge will result in a
reduction in the imports of raw material, thus reducing the intermediate inputs produced domestically.
Development based upon ideas and knowledge inspired by traditional bio-resources could provide a new way toincrease the competitiveness of local industries. Furthermore, the promotion of the local industry could
contribute to job creation and to the stabilization of the regional economy.
Development economists consider ‘ideas’ as a source of growth and ‘knowledge’ as a factor of productionthat makes it possible to avoid the diminishing returns to scale of the economy. To induce increasing returns toscale, economists emphasize the importance of developing the production of knowledgeB). In the next section,
above-described integrated approach was applied to the regional development in Tunisia by considering olives
and olive oil as one of the ‘seeds for industrialization’.
3. Regional Development
The production of olives and olive oil in North Africa is an industry that has the potential for bothproduction and job creation. The promotion or export of olive oil is an important strategy for regional andnational development in order to catch up with industrialized regions such as the European Union. Olives and377

Percentage of virgin olive oil in total (%)

Volume of import of olive oil products

olive oils in North Africa and Mediterranean
40000.070
countries, on the one hand, are traditionally
Quantity (tonnes)
known for their high quality and long shelf
35000.0
60
Value (million yen)life. On the other hand, Japan is a potential
Quantity (%)
30000.050
emerging market for olive oil. Reflecting an
Value (%)
25000.0increase in the demand for health and better40nutrition, olive oil consumption in Japan has
20000.030
shown an increasing trend in the last two
15000.0
decades. According to the statistics of the20
10000.0
Japan Tariff Association, Japan has an annual
105000.0consumption of around 30,000 tonnes (JapanTariff Association, 2007). However, almost
0.0
099% of imports are from traditional olive oil
84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 Yearproducing and exporting countries, such as(Note) The value is based upon the CIF value. “The virgin olive oil” is defined as virgin
olive which isnot chemically modified.
Spain and Italy. Exports for instance from(Source) Japan Tariff Association, Japan Exports & Imports, commodity by Country,
Tunisia and Morocco are negligible, butvarious editions.
producers have an interest in reinforcing and Fig.Figure
2. Volume
Importof Olive
Oil Products
in Japan,
2. Volumeofof Importof Olive
Oil Products
in Japan ,1984-2006
increasing their penetration of the Japanese
1984-2006.
market.
Bioassay screening systems have detected many medically effective biological activities, such as reductionof atopic dermatitis, anti-allergy, anti-oxidant, anti-pathogenic and anti-inflammatory properties, in thecomponents of Tunisian olive and aromatic plants (Isoda, 2008). Recent scientific research has revealed that
Tunisian olives and olive oil contain various physiologically active compounds (Abaza et al., 2007; Kawano etal., 2007; Yamada et al., 2008). Their activities include, for instance, anti-oxidants (hydroxytyrosol, tyrosoland oleuropein), anti-allergic substances (luteolin and apigenin) and molecules (oleuropein and apigenin-7-O-glucoside) that stimulate the transition of cancer cells into normal (differentiated) cells. Bioassay methods
also detected the protective effects of olive leaf extracts against human leukaemia and the anti-melanogenesis.
It is interesting to note that stress tolerance, particularly in dry conditions, may have an effect on thedevelopment of such useful properties. By scientifically detecting biological activities, traditional products gain
the potential to increase their added value, both by being applied to functional foods and cosmetics, and bymedicinal use for the development of a new ‘market of functional foods’.
Regarding the food processing, we regard that the new technology of microchannel (MC) emulsification
for the production of foods would be a new development which makes it possible to process raw materials into
valuable products. The droplet generation process, by MCs, is possible to be applied to olive oil produced in
Tunisia for emulsions of olive oil-in-water. Such new technologies are expected to contribute to better nutrition
intake to improve health and diet, and they are expected to make the production processes of food moresustainable. Such food engineering research intended to add further value to indigenous bio-resources in which
new functions were detected.
As for the effective use of bioresources, some resources for bioethanol production, such as cassava and rice,
can be used as food. As an alternative, the exploitation of wild grass as well as cellulose ethanol is also possible
to consider as an energy resource that does not compete with food supplies. By implementing a Life Cycle
Assessment (LCA) of CO2 emission and estimating the volume of ethanol produced in biomass power
generation, those plants can also be considered an available resource for energy. For biodiesel fuel production,
the use of inedible lipids would be more sustainable materials. These include used edible oil, lipids containedin waste effluent from oil milling process and by-products from oil refining process. Crude oils from industrial
crops such as Jatropha may also be promising materials for biodiesel fuel. The importance of examining thebalance of energy input and CO2 emission for bio-energy production is suggested, including harvest, transport,
process and feedstock, and that biofuels will demand more energy than they produce.
With respect to technological transfer, one might consider that the technological gap lines between
advanced knowledge such as bioassay, food processing, bioenergy production developed in Japan and the levelof local technology for instance in Tunisia. However, it should be noted that extracts and compounds of crops
and plants in which new biological activities were detected are locally available and indigenous to North Africa.

378

The only external factor is idea and knowledge concerning new biological activities of useful bioresources.
Thus, it takes huge cost in the stage of ‘invention’ in particular and for localizing the advanced technology todevelop economically feasible technology. Yet, once biological activities were detected, those new functions
themselves are expected to become public goods in the stage of ‘imitation and diffusion’. The usefulness
themselves, as public goods, have two distinct characteristics i.e. non-rivalry and non-excludability. From thepoint of cost-effectiveness, idea and knowledge obtained can be used continuously without additional costs. In
addition, business-academia collaborative research on intellectual property right also contributes to reduce costfor transfer and localization of the advanced techniques and provide incentives for local entrepreneurs.
4. Conclusions
This paper conceptualized a basic model of regional development based upon bio-resources, for arid areasin particular, and proposed an integrated approach by using locally available food material, and by integrating
several approaches to the detection of biological activities, advanced processing technology, an efficient
distribution system and the effective use of bio-resources. The model was applied to the development ofTunisia, with olives and olive oil as the ‘seeds for industrialization’. Various biological activities, for instanceanti-oxidation, anti-pathogen and anti-inflammation properties, have been detected in the components ofTunisian olive and aromatic plants using the bioassay screening system. For food processing and efficient
distribution, we noted the new technology of MC emulsification and considered it as a new development in theproduction of foods. As an effective use of bio-resources, inedible lipids were proposed as a more sustainable
material for the production of biodiesel fuel, taking into consideration the balance of energy input and CO2emission for bioenergy production. This integrated approach would make it possible to design and construct amodel of regional development based upon innovation using ideas inspired by traditional products. The
generation of a new line of innovation, using olives and olive oil as seeds of industrialization, expects to provide
a new way to enhance productivity and competitiveness and to create employment in the local agro-foodindustry in North Africa including Tunisia.
AnnotationA) The Euro-Mediterranean Partnership proposed an initiative to construct a zone of shared prosperity throughan economic and financial partnership, and the gradual establishment of a free-trade area by the target date of2010. Negotiations for Agreements already concluded include those with Tunisia in 1995, Morocco in 1996,
Algeria in 2002 and Egypt in 2004. See the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership-Overview, cited by http://ec.europa.eu/external_relations /euromed/ index.htm [Accessed 30 January, 2009].
B) In most of the economies of North Africa, the contribution of technological progress to economic growth
remains underdeveloped. Total Factor Productivity (TFP) as an indicator of technological change
contributed less than capital accumulation to accounting for growth from 1960 to 1998 (Abu-Qarn andAbu-Bader, 2005). It is, therefore, how economies in North Africa induce innovation without greatly
depending upon capital accumulation, and shift to the knowledge-based development path that will be crucial
to attaining sustainable economic development.
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