Jeanmarie Sanginga chose this article as his favorite because this farmer’s initiative has led some young people to embark on agriculture with small initiatives for income as manufacture of animal feed of which soya is the most important element as source of protein; Soya milk and soya oil! This article first appeared in Podcaster 33, October 2015.
Mr. Berkimas is one of the farmers trained by N2Africa on soyabean processing at IITA Kalambo. After the training he decided to start a small business of soyabean and cassava processing in Kavumu (one of the villages of Bukavu, around 25 km from Bukavu city). Here, soyabean cultivation is common. Mr. Berkimas bought processing equipment worth 4600 US$ with his own funds. The processing machine takes an hour to transform 120 kg soyabean in 48 liters of soyamilk and 78 kg of waste. The wastes are being used to produce cakes and feed for livestock.
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Photo: Mr Jean Marie Sanginga, N2Africa country coordinator, visits Mr. Berkimas and his soyabean processing unit Mr. Berkimas’ aims are to add value to soyabean, compete on the regional market and improve his income. He has started with soyabean but also wishes to expand to other crops like cassava. He wants to be a model to other farmers who want to start a venture in agribusiness. |
N2Africa promised to continue advising the farmers. Through Mr Berkimas we encourage other farmers to be engaged in this venture for poverty reduction.
Sanginga Jean Marie, Despines Bamuleke and Bintu Ndusha