Composite flours: Prospects for their application in developing countries—the case of the Andean pact countries

Abstract

Abstract The technology of composite flours, through which a partial substitution of wheat flour by flours produced from locally grown grains is accomplished, represents an interesting option to control the negative effects caused by increasing imports of wheat in non‐wheat‐producing developing countries. Composite flour research has been carried out in developed and developing countries since 1964 when FAO first presented its Composite Flour Programme. Research has shown that the introduction of the composite flours concept is technically feasible and economically desirable in most cases. However, the expected impact on agroindustrial development of wheat nonproducing countries has not been produced because the technology has not been successfully introduced to the industrial sector. This paper states that for a technological change to succeed, the institutional and policy environment has to be favorable and appropriate changes on the macroeconomic environment have to be made. MEPS (methodology for asses...