Gaprotech
ABOUT GAPROTECH
The challenge of smallholder farmers in oil palm cultivation and processing is similar to all oil palm producing countries in Africa including Ghana, the location of Green Afro-Palms (GAP), and GAPROTECH solution.
The West African belt from Angola to Senegal survives the oil palm crop; with Nigeria, Coted’Ivoire, Cameroon as major producers and Sierra Leone, Liberia, Benin least producers. In these countries, over 70% of the average of oil palm cultivation is by smallholder farmers who lack resources and technologies to capture the full potential of the crop both economically and environmentally.
Majority of oil palm farmers in Ghana now, out of insufficient economic gains from their farms, resort to giving their farms and lands for Illegal mining and logging activities, destroying farm lands, stripping forestation and leaving waters polluted-a threat to climate change and food security.
GAP designed a solution dubbed GAPROTECH in response to post-harvests processing challenges of the African smallholder palm farmer. GAPROTECH coined from GAP Processing Technology is an agric-machinery technology (40,000usd. per 1.5 ton / hour plant); was locally manufactured in Ghana, with locally sourced materials) tailored, for the needs of small farmers.
This technology allows the use of solar as a source of energy, to process 2.5 times more oils from farmers oil palm yields making farmers earn 3 times more than their initial incomes. The plant has capacity in aiding producing biogas from the processing wastes as a by-product (a proprietary function) which farmers could use as fuel for cooking in their homes.
GAPROTECH designed by GAP, seeks to solve the challenge of post-harvest losses faced by smallholder palm farmers aiding efficient yet affordable processing technology to increase production of farmers and thus augment the total production of oil palm and its processed products from Africa.
