By Lyzzie Owade

Paul Odera in Migori County learnt painfully enough why sunflower oil processing has failed to grow in Kenya, when the oil processing company he had worked at for 20 years closed down. But he then discovered that the path to sunflower oil success lay, instead, in farmers processing the oil themselves, combining growing with pressing.

Based in Lower Kuja, Nyakwiri in Migori County, Paul initially imported an oil press machine through a company in Nakuru, paying Sh150,000 for it, and used it for processing. 

Demand for sunflower oil is high in Kenya, but there are few local suppliers, forcing many buyers to import from Uganda.

But he was barely making an income. 

“I started as a processor since I already had bought the machine. But later, I changed and started doing both growing and pressing,” he said.

“Buying from other farmers is more expensive than growing it yourself.”

In Kenya, buying sunflower seeds from other farmers costs around Sh50 to Sh70 per kilogram, which leaves virtually no profits from processing at local oil prices.

But now, Paul processes his own sunflower seeds, and offers pressing services to farmers across the region to do the same.

“If you bring me 1kg of sunflower, I crush it at Sh15 per kg. And if you don’t have a market, I can help you sell because I have many customers,” he said.

Paul sells unrefined sunflower oil at Sh300 per litre to local vendors who fry chips or fish. He also supplies to companies within Migori County, who purifiy and rebrand the oil and sell it in supermarkets at prices ranging from Sh400 to Sh520 per litre.

“It’s been two years since I last bought cooking oil from the shop. I process my own, and it’s healthier, more nutritious and heavier. I used to consume 2 litres a week, now I use just 1 litre,” he said

‘’It takes about 3 to 4 kg of sunflower seeds to produce 1 litre of oil.’’.

Sunflowers mature in just four months, making them ideal for small-scale farmers. Paul harvests between 800 kg and 1,000 kg per season, which yields about 200 litres of unrefined oil, all of which he sells locally.

In addition, he sells sunflower cake, a by-product of the oil pressing process, to animal feed companies at Sh40 per kg, creating an extra income.

Read Also:

KIRDI abandons research into farmer sunflower presses, for own paid service

Seed Review: Sheba is currently highest sunflower oil earner in Kenya

Sunflower growers use nets and guardian eagles to keep field clearing birds away 

Many of the farmers who now use his pressing service grow Kenya fedha seeds because it performs well in all regiona. But Fedha has relatively low oil content, at 30 per cent, meaning it takes around 3.8kg to produce a litre of oil.

For his supplier farmers, this costs Sh54 to press, meaning they earn about Sh68 per kg. 

However, for farmers growing highe oil seeds, such as Shaba, which has 39 per cent oil, it takes only 2.8kg per litre of oil, cutting their pressing cost per litre to Sh4.2, and raising their earnings per kg of seed to over Sh92 per kilo.