Need for Agroprocessing
The perishability and bulkiness of the agricultural products are the reasons why farmers in many areas fail to benefit from the growing food demand of the population centers. If their crop starts to spoil before it reaches consumers, or if the harvest prices are low, farmers' struggles to double or triple their yields may be futile. The only way for farmers to add value to their harvested crops is through processing.

Small-scale agro-processing equipment diminishes the drudgery of manual processing, which particularly benefits women who do most of the food crops processing and marketing in Africa.

Since the early 1990s, SAA and the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) have been cooperating to run an agroprocessing programme aimed at bringing improved postharvest and agroprocessing technologies to small-scale African farmers.

Trainings
SAA and the GRATIS Foundation in Ghana first joined hands in 1995 to provide improved agroprocessing technology to small-scale farmers and producers. SAA, GRATIS and IITA have also been involved in the training of technicians to manufacture and assemble equipments.
The increasing demand for equipments and after-sales services led to the formation of the Manufacturers’ Network in Ghana in 2001. The network offers nine regional and two private workshops. According to Dankyi Dafoor, the Executive Director of the GRATIS Foundation, « the network is responsible for the manufacture and sales of agroprocessing equipments. It provides after-sales services, supplies spare parts, undertakes product demonstrations and exhibits at local and international agricultural trade shows».

In addition to providing training to farmer groups in the use of the equipment and in small-enterprise management, SAA and IITA demonstrate machinery for manufacturers, conduct fabrication trainings, and provide information to manufacturers and materials suppliers about the commercial opportunities and the rising demand for processing equipments.

Meetings
SAA organizes meetings for participants from Benin, Ghana and, for the first time, Ethiopia as well. The attendees discuss issues they have in common, such as production problems, quality control and marketing. The first meeting was held hold in Benin, in 2003.

The multi-crop thresher
In 2001, the SAA-AP project introduced the mutli-crop thresher developed by the IITA.
In Guinea, IITA trained manufacturers to produce multi-crop threshers and rice polishers. Once trained, the technicians began to produce threshers. The demand for rice threshers has increased since the SG 2000’s promotion of NERICA, the new rice variety developed by WARDA for Africa.

Cassava
Much of the equipment being promoted -- both manual and engine-driven -- is for processing cassava, a notoriously perishable crop. The manual equipment is cheap enough for individual households, whereas village groups or small commercial processors usually purchase engine-driven machinery. Gari (fermented and roasted cassava) has become an important commercial product in West Africa, finding a market in the region and even in Europe.

Shea nut
An export market has also emerged for Shea butter, produced in rural areas in the Savannah zone of West Africa. In 2003 in Benin, the agroprocessing programme concentrated on introducing improved shea nut processing equipment, called “complese karite“, that included a nut crusher and a wet-type grinder developed by IITA.
The crusher is far more efficient than that the manual method used previously, crushing 300 kg of nuts an hour compared to 50 kg a day processed by hand. The wet-type grinder mills the nuts into a paste that is then kneaded to extract the oil or “butter“. One hundred kg of shea nut yields 49 kg of shea butter with the new equipment. The technology package not only reduces the processing time, but also increases the quantity and the quality of the shea butter produced.

Results
The analyses of the primary and secondary data from the project sites show the profitability of several small-scale businesses now booming in the rural areas of Ghana, Benin and Ethiopia.
«The results show that the projects’ major accomplishments include the awareness of the improved agroprocessing technologies in the rural areas and the establishment of a support mechanism to sustain the operation and management of these technologies. Farmers and processors also appreciate the increase of their processing capacity, the production of value-added products and access to markets» says Toshiro Mado.

By the end of 2005, SAA-AP concluded its activities in Benin and Ghana. GRATIS and the Manufacturers Network in Benin will continue the technology dissemination as their daily activity. Now SAA-AP focuses on Ethiopia, Mali and Uganda.