GRATIS Foundation manufactures groundnut extractor

Tema, Feb. 10, GNA - The GRATIS Foundation has manufactured a groundnut oil extracting machine, which is being used to help improve the cultivation of groundnuts on a large scale in the Northern Region, the institute has announced.

The Foundation has also manufactured palm nutcrackers, which are able to separate the kernel from the shell. Palm cracker that could crack the nut but not separate the shell had been in the system about two decades ago.

Mr Gabriel Boateng Appiah, Assistant Manager at Design Department of GRATIS who disclosed this to CIDA officials led by Mr Claude Michaud, Director of Information Programmes, said the groundnut extractor could extract one gallon of oil in 30 minutes.

In the past, groundnut oil had been extracted by roasting the nuts, then grinding and heating with fire to get the oil. It takes several hours to get one gallon of the oil.

Mr Appiah said the Palm nutcracker could crack one tonne per hour. He explained that due to the high cost of the extractor, farmers could not easily afford it and that GRATIS was targeting medium scale industrialists to procure them so that groundnut farmers could send their produce to them for processing.

GRATIS is also manufacturing 16 cubic metre solid waste containers, which will be driven by tractors to refuse dump site, he said, adding that at full capacity the unit could produce between 25 to 30 of such waste containers a month.

Currently, Ghana imports the containers from Europe with foreign exchange.

The range of agro processing equipment produced by GRATIS which have been in use for a long time include cassava processing plants, Shea butter extraction equipment, Vegetable oil clarifiers, Palm oil extraction equipment, Fruit juice extractors, LPG fish smoking ovens and Multi crop cereal threshers.