IDDS 2011 - My Project (Part 1)

Our challenge was to find a way for people in local communities in central Ghana to extract oil from local crops (edible and/or medicinal oils, not the black stuff) so that they could generate income. We looked at all sorts of local crops, and I learned a lot about different oilseeds.

Peanut (usually called groundnuts in Ghana) oil seemed like it would have lots of potential, since so many families have a peanut farm and there are so many peanuts in the community. Additionally, peanuts are typically cultivated by the women where we were working (the main men's crop in that area is yams) so it seemed like a good opportunity to develop a venture with the local women. Unfortunately, after talking to shopkeepers, we found out that even if peanut oil were selling at 50 percent more* than the cost of the imported cooking oil (predominantly palm oil from southeast Asia) that most people in the community were already using, the cost of the seeds would be right at that level, meaning that there is not currently much money to be earned by the processors. That's not to say that a peanut oil venture in that area couldn't be profitable (there is also value in the high protein seedcake that remains after pressing the oil) only that the venture was probably beyond the scope of what we could accomplish in five weeks.

Neem oil seemed really exciting since there is some research to suggest that consuming neem oil can make people less desirable to mosquitoes and hence less prone to malaria. It also tends to sell for a price on international markets. And the trees grow abundantly in central Ghana. Unfortunately, other research was talking about possible side effects including reduced fertility. It's hard to know what to believe, but we figured it was better to focus on a seed that might not have so much bad press surrounding it.

Palm oil was an obvious candidate since people already cook with so much and even produce it locally for soap production. The palm fruit has lots of oil and the kernel inside has some oil of its own. Unfortunately, palm isn't grown in central Ghana and most of the palm that they process is bought from markets closer to the coast. The hardest part is that many people are so used to the shear quantity of oil that comes from palm that it is easy to be disappointed by other seeds with their lower yields.

We looked at essential oils from oranges and lemons. The sky-high price of the oils was very attractive, but the incredibly low yields and complexity of the process was somewhat off-putting. It was hard to nix the idea, but in the end, we felt that it was for the best.

Shea butter was a strong contender, but it is already extensively processed in the community and previous projects to find better technologies, teams have struggled in the past (I was a member of one of those teams). Kapok seed oil and cottonseed oil were both interesting candidates, but the current processing methods seemed rather efficient, so we figured it was better not to mess with a good thing. There was an interesting plant that they called a kei apple tree (however, it does not resemble the kei apple tree that is grown in East Africa) which was an interesting candidate, but it seemed like there would need to be quite a bit of work in market development, so we left it alone for the time being (it could be an interesting project down the line).

In the end, we opted to focus on moringa** oil. Lots of people in the area have started planting moringa trees since it restores health to the soil and the leaves are sold as a high value nutritional supplement. The oil is very valuable for cosmetics as it is capable of holding even the most volatile scents. And it is used in some Ayurvedic treatments and it is currently being branded in some circles as an aphrodisiac (I'm happy to support those rumors if it will help the market grow, but I have to admit that I had a bit of the oil and did not notice any change). Demand for the oil is pretty high, though it is not always easy for Ghanaians to reach those markets. Also, the seeds are incredibly light (we found an average of 0.3 grams per seed), and contain about 40 percent oil by weight, so it takes over 8000 seeds to produce one kg of oil if you have 100 percent efficiency (a fairly unrealistic assumption), though with proper care, research suggests that trees can produce 15,000 to 25,000 seeds, but the trees that we saw weren't producing anywhere near that level. But all in all, there was a lot of enthusiasm from the community (when we talked about the low yield, one person responded by suggesting that they plant lots of moringa trees as soon as possible) and clearly a market opportunity.

* Customers will pay that premium because peanut oil is easier to cook with and usually goes a bit further.
** The autocorrect feature has suggested that I look at enema oil and mooring oil. Dear me.

Introduction
My Project (Part 1)
My Project (Part 2)
Other Work
Delivering Content
My Team
Language
Where We Stayed
Suame Magazine
New Longoro
Maker Faire
Food
Potluck
Ramadan
Transportation
Accra