In 2007, David Kimondo watched in awe as the first golden droplets of crystal-clear canola oil cascaded from the gleaming machine, landing softly into a waiting vessel below.
“I can say I was the happiest man that day, very excited seeing my idea of producing oil from the tiny canola seeds come to fruition,” said Kimondo, who had seen his previous attempts using locally fabricated machines not quite work out. The entrepreneur who before then was running a posho mill at his peri-urban home near Mweiga Town in Nyeri County would then begin the process of registering the enterprise and seeking certification of the oil with the view of commercialising it.
“I did not have any knowledge of processing the oil but I had got a rough idea from a white settler in Laikipia who was producing it for his farm automotive applications,” said Kimondo. Upgrading Two years later in 2009 he was forced to spend Ksh800,000, almost his entire savings to import an oil expeller machine from China and set up his cottage industry.
He also bought some five 90kg bags of canola at Ksh5,000 a bag from the white settler. He kept producing the oil and taking samples to the Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS) for tests and approvals. This was not an easy process, he says. “Up to five times, tests and trials of the oil failed to meet the regulator’s standards despite the efforts and costs I incurred but I did not lose hope thanks to the expert advice for improvement I received every time my products fell below the quality requirements,” said Kimondo.
Another challenge he faced at the teething stage of the venture was competition from big canola oil producers, who ensured they bought almost all the seeds from the few farmers then to drive him out of business. “I ensured that I approach the growers nicely by teaching them how to produce canola and offer them a price
a little bit higher than that of the competitors to survive and grow,” he said. After rounds of trials, he would finally get the product approved and since that time the agripreneur’s small manufacturing industry has been a beehive of activities. The factory, situated on a murram road a few metres off the NyeriNairobi highway, currently has a smaller and bigger electric-powered oil expeller machines operating. As we are ushered into the processing unit, we meet Christabella Manyonge the machines operator in her overall attire.
Her work involves properly feeding canola seeds, first, into the bigger machine which can crush three bags of 90kg canola seeds in about four hours. “We ensure the seeds processed are dried to 11 percent moisture content for them to be crushed well by the machine to produce oil which we collect into a drum through sievers and sludge for further crushing to remove some oil remains,” says Manyonge.
The sludge is passed through the smaller machine twice until the remaining oil is completely squeezed out, leaving molds of almost dry cakes. If properly processed, three 90kg bags of canola seeds can yield more than 70 litres of refined oil for market while the cakes, which are the sole byproducts, are milled through another machine into animal feeds.
“We normally realise about 150 kilos of animal feeds from the three 90kg processed seeds. The feeds are sold as supplement to livestock farmers nearby who walk in to buy at the industry or faraway farmers on order,” said Manyonge.
The oil is sold under the brand name ‘Kieni Canola Oil’ at various outlets, including the industry shop at Mweiga, and shops and supermarkets in Nyeri Town, Nakuru, Nyahururu, Chaka and in Nairobi. “We sell a litre of canola oil at Ksh400. We also have other oils that we process such as castor (mbonombono) oil that we sell at Ksh1,500 a litre,
black seed oil and pumpkin oil among other products,” said Kimondo. The cottage industry currently processes a tonne of canola seeds a week which can yield up to 200 litres of oil and 1,400 kilos of castor seeds which produce 20 litres of oil a week. Having been approved by the National Products Industry (NPI) and with herbal medicine knowledge, Kimondo is now spicing the oil with some herbal extracts to make other medicinal products for his many health conscious consumers.
Training farmers
Kimondo has since embarked on training farmers, especially those who grow wheat, on the importance of rotating the crop with canola and its economic value. He also teaches consumers about the benefit of the edible oil thanks to a platform he has been offered by the Agriculture and Food Authority (AFA) in almost all the agricultural events to exhibit the products and educate the public. “I want to thank the government through AFA for allowing small enterprises such as Kieni Canola Oil to have space to thrive. I’m really grateful for the support and recognition I have received over the years,” he said.
Possible returns
Kimondo says a farmer can harvest 1-1.5 tonnes of canola seeds from an acre in about 100 days. Currently, a kilo of canola seeds is sold at between Ksh70 and Ksh180, meaning from an acre, a grower can rake in about Ksh270,000 or Ksh105,000 a season from the crop whose investment in terms of input and labour per acre cannot exceed Ksh10,000, according to the entrepreneur.
Generally, the introduction of canola, say on a three-year cycle initially, will lead to improved net income and profitability over the period. However, Kimondo decries lack of enough producers of castor and back seeds locally something which forces him buy them from as far as the Coast region and Ethiopia
