process of making palm oil from sunflower in lusaka

To process sunflower into cooking oil, farmers use a grinding machine called an expeller. Because Mrs. Kamuwikeni does not have an expeller, she uses other people¡¯s expellers and pays a processing fee. She says, ¡°After extracting the oil using the expeller, the oil is not clean enough to be sold directly to the community.¡±

One reason for encouraging the greater production and processing of sunflower oil in Tanzania is thus its potential for import substitution, which could generate income and jobs at home and have a beneficial impact on foreign- exchange outflows. Also it is healthier than other types of oil, for example palm oil and groundnut oil.

Bubala Soko is the agricultural extension officer for Kalichero Agriculture Camp. He says that adding value by processing sunflower into oil can boost income for small-scale farmers. Mr. Soko explains: ¡°Sunflower is a crop that can improve income levels of farmers if farmers add value to their produce.

Mrs Kamuwikeni can sell a 25-kg bag of sunflower for 150 Zambia Kwacha ($6.60 US). Or she can process that bag into 10 litres of cooking oil and sell it for 430 Kwacha ($19 US). It¡¯s seven o¡¯clock in the morning and Naomi Kamuwikeni is quickly walking to the oil expeller at Gondar market. She is carrying sunflowers to process into oil.