Agricultural products innovation

Even though our business is thriving very well, yet it is not devoid of challenges. Raw material supply has not been sustainable especially during the dry season when production is low. The next challenge has been distribution of our product to far flung areas. Movement of our marketers and retailers are limited by lack of transportation facilities. Furthermore, our current production level cannot meet demand for our product because it is low. We need electrical equipment to modernize our production and increase product quantity to meet the growing demand. 

Mission, Vision and Objective

Mission: To reduces poverty among the economically active poor by providing sustainable access to training and value addition to locally produced raw materials especially the Orange Sweet Flesh Potatoes, Cassava, Ginger and Moringa.

Vision: Be a center of excellence in product innovation and provision of technical training.

Objective: Enhance self-help activities of rural communities with specific emphasis on creating employment for rural women and youth through skills training and food processing for mainly Potatoes, cassava, ginger, moringa, products.  

The business focuses on the skilful production of Orange Fleshed Sweet Potato (OFSP) Joy Bread. The OFSP is the most recent technology released by SLARI and HKI with more than 10 health benefits In this business a composite recipe is used to produce the bread. Production involves establishment of a bakery and use of motorised mixing machines blending the OFSP with wheat flour in appropriate proportion including butter, oil and some sugar. After kneading, the dough is allowed some time before baking in an oven. We use traditional oven to bake the dough before sending it to the packaging section where labelling and packaging is carried out. Marketing is an important component of our industry. 

The market need for our product cannot be over emphasized. At the moment we process 500 sachets per day and cannot meet market demand for our product. As more people get a taste of the product, the demand increases. The school going population, the family households, all commercial houses in Makeni and several towns in Bombali use our product. We cater both for the poor and rich through our prices. Some loaves are sold at a retail price of Le1000/00 while others are sold for Le5,000/00. The fact that we are using nutrient rich OFSP, has made several people to be interested in our product. OFSP boosts immune system of the body, reduces arthritis pain, treats stomach ulcers, controls diabetes and prevents Vitamin A deficiency. See www.ofsp.org for more information.

Even though our business is thriving very well, yet it is not devoid of challenges. Raw material supply has not been sustainable especially during the dry season when production is low. The next challenge has been distribution of our product to far flung areas. Movement of our marketers and retailers are limited by lack of transportation facilities. Furthermore, our current production level cannot meet demand for our product because it is low. We need electrical equipment to modernize our production and increase product quantity to meet the growing demand. 

      Producing bread from a composite recipe is innovative. Several people cannot imagine producing bread from sweet potatoes. The innovation lies in how can sweet potato be made into bread and at what proportion. How much wheat flour is required to prepare one bag of sweet potato into bread? How is taste of bread from sweet potato derived? The wider interest of consumers of our product arose from the fact that the OFSP has the precursor for vitamin A and processing methods used by our team ensures high level of nutrient retention. The OFSP provides over 10 health benefits and consumers are greatly encouraged to continue eating our bread.

We are using a very simple traditional model in this business where risks and uncertaintities are well understood and noted. We take into consideration every input cost and determine total input cost. We take note of production output and determine costs and margins of the production. For now we do not include the use of sophisticated equipment and machinery and use of unskilled labour is kept at a minimum. We sell both at retail and whole sale price. We earn more money at retail than at whole sale but sell faster at whole sale than retail.

EXAMPLE: for a total input cost of Le527,500/00, we get a production output of Le 800,000/00. This gives a gross profit of Le312,500/00 per a batch from one bag of wheat flour. 

The market need for our product cannot be over emphasized. At the moment we process 500 sachets per day and cannot meet market demand for our product. As more people get a taste of the product, the demand increases. The school going population, the family households, all commercial houses in Makeni and several towns in Bombali use our product. We cater both for the poor and rich through our prices. Some loaves are sold at a retail price of Le1000/00 while others are sold for Le5,000/00. The fact that we are using nutrient rich OFSP, has made several people to be interested in our product. OFSP boosts immune system of the body, reduces arthritis pain, treats stomach ulcers, controls diabetes and prevents Vitamin A deficiency. See www.ofsp.org for more information.

 our business addresses several problems. It creates jobs for the youths who sell and markets our product. Employment creation helps to reduce poverty. In the production process we have several youths and rural women who help with production while learning our skills. Some of them only need starting capital to kick start production on their own. So our bakery also serves as an incubation unit to train both male and female youth in skills. We impact people positively and we are no way destroying the environment. Our only negative impact on the environment is the smoke from our bakery. We are working against this type of air pollution by trying to introduce the use of electrical equipment.

CURRENTLY SERVING: 2000 DIRECT BENEFACIARY

AND WITHIN FIVE YEAR IF EXPANDED WILL CATER FOR 15000 DIRECT BENEFICIARY

The intervention of Your organisation into our business is highly needed to help us scale out and meet the demand for our product. Our business will continue to grow without support from SL-Agcelerator but growth will be at a very slow pace, expansion to other districts and main headquarter towns will be delayed. The number of consumers will increase slowly if the support is not made available. Raw material supply will continue to be inadequate and employment opportunities for our rural women and youth will be on a low scale.

Even though our business is thriving very well, yet it is not devoid of challenges. Raw material supply has not been sustainable especially during the dry season when production is low. The next challenge has been distribution of our product to far flung areas. Movement of our marketers and retailers are limited by lack of transportation facilities. Furthermore, our current production level cannot meet demand for our product because it is low. We need electrical equipment to modernize our production and increase product quantity to meet the growing demand. To reach the next relevant milestone our business needs support to the raw material producers. Next is support with transportation to enable our retailers move far and wide. Current production level is low, we need to be supported funds to acquire electrical equipment that will aid increase in level of product.

our business addresses several problems. It creates jobs for the youths who sell and markets our product. Employment creation helps to reduce poverty. In the production process we have several youths and rural women who help with production while learning our skills. Some of them only need starting capital to kick start production on their own. So our bakery also serves as an incubation unit to train both male and female youth in skills. We impact people positively and we are no way destroying the environment. Our only negative impact on the environment is the smoke from our bakery. We are working against this type of air pollution by trying to introduce the use of electrical equipment 

PRESENTLY THE WE HAVE SIX(6) REGULAR TEAM MEMBER AND 20 PER TIME/VOLUNTEER

The business is highly profitable and very rewarding. It is not complex. Simple to do and does not require plenty of labour. It enhances the sweet potato value chain and contributes immensely to food security. It promotes sweet potato farmers by providing readymade market for them. Farmers are the foundation of the value chain. They produce the OFSP and support the Agro-processors who add value to the tubers. We are largely motivated by ready market available almost everywhere for our product and the less risks involved in the business.

PRESENTLY WE PARTNERS WITH THE BELOW ORGANISATION:

1. MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE FORESTRY AND FOOD SECURITY SIERRA LEONE

2. FARMERS ASSOCIATION

3. MINISTRY OF TRADE

4. STANDARD BEREAU

We are using a very simple traditional model in this business where risks and uncertaintities are well understood and noted. We take into consideration every input cost and determine total input cost. We take note of production output and determine costs and margins of the production. For now we do not include the use of sophisticated equipment and machinery and use of unskilled labour is kept at a minimum. We sell both at retail and whole sale price. We earn more money at retail than at whole sale but sell faster at whole sale than retail.

EXAMPLE: for a total input cost of Le527,500/00, we get a production output of Le 800,000/00. This gives a gross profit of Le312,500/00 per a batch from one bag of wheat flour.