Pre-feasibility study of the processing of African locust beans into dawadawa

Abstract

Dawadawa is a highly nutritious condiment popularly used in Northern Ghana. It is mainly produced by women. The traditional dawadawa processing technology involves drudgery, wastes water, time and fuel. Processing is also done under very deplorable hygenic conditions. The above-mentioned deficiencies in traditional dawadawa processing technology led to the development of an environmentally benign technology which reduces the drudgery, time and energy involved in processing dawadawa. The improved technology enhances the storability and marketability of the product. It is envisaged that with adequate promotion on dawadawa consumption and utilisation, the improved technology will expand the activities of the small scale women entrepreneurs and strengthen their economic base. The study seeks to determine the financial viability of both traditional and improved processing technologies for sound investment decision-making by would be entrepreneurs. It will also serve as a guide for donors who wish to assist projects with real chance of success financially. The study concluded that the traditional dawadawa processing activity is not financially viable. This could be attributed to failure on the part of the processors to capture all the cost elements in pricing. However, the improved processing activity is financially viable and more efficient. The break even analysis resulted in a positive gross margin of ¢5050 on each cube of dawadawa produced (improved) and a break even quantity of about 3000 cubes, with monthly production capacity of 75,000 cubes by a group of five processors. It is recommended that the packaging activity under the improved dawadawa production technology should be mechanised to reduce labour cost and intensive promotion on consumption and utilisation of dawadawa embarked upon