Agventure Limited through their product, Pure Mountain Farm Oil is contracting farmers to grow Rapeseed also known as canola to boost the supply of the raw material to the company’s processing plants in Timau and additional factory in Nakuru.
The company which was started in 2008 has been working with groups of local farmers in Kenya aiming towards successful and sustainable agriculture among the growers.
“We contract willing farmers who grow the crop and we assure them of a ready market, something that has always been a worry among them making them shy away from farming certain crops,” said John Mwiki, Agventure Limited agronomist.
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To work with the company, a farmer must willing and possess a piece of land production. They should also organize themselves in groups within a given location for ease of collection and transport after harvest.
The farmers should also be ready to comply with the company’s production regulations which include buying the seeds from the company’s recommended seed dealers and follow best production practices.
“Agventure requires high standards of rapeseed from the farmers for processing. In order to accomplish this, rotation of crops is paramount,” said Mwiki.
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Rapeseed plant matures within three months. It is grown for its highly nutritious oil as it produces Omega 3, 6 and 9 fatty acids.
After harvesting the seeds are taken to the factory and tested against an in-house standard. The seed is then crushed using our Cold-Press crushing machine to ensure the oil does not exceed 40 Celcius at any point of production.
The benefit to this is that there is no breakdown of the vitamins and minerals naturally found within the oil. After crushing, the oil then passes through a number of filters before being bottled and packed by manually by hand.
“Some of our end products made from the seeds include herb infused cold-pressed canola oil, pure cold-pressed canola oil, chilli infused cold-pressed canola oil, honey-balsamic dressing and raspberry dressing among others,” said Mwiki.
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To venture into the canola farming cultivating one acre of the farm will produce two tones within three months translating to eight tonnes per year per acre and a kilo of the seeds goes at Sh40.
“We encourage the farmers to grow the canola oil crop to shore up their income and boost our intake as a litre of oil requires four kilograms of seed.”
Rapeseed oil which is currently in high demand retails at Sh400 a litre, 200ml for Sh200 while a 500ml goes for Sh250.
Agventure Limited can be reached on +254 704 599 594.