Oil boom

Tinytech, a mechanised oil expeller
imported from India, is doing
wonders for the villagers of Gokwe
in the Midlands province of
Zimbabwe. A smallscale oil milling
business in Gokwe has installed
Tinytech which has helped improve
the nutritional standards of impoverished villagers in this vast rural
area by providing them access to
cooking oil. Earlier, the edible oil
market in Zimbabwe was dominated by four major producers based
in urban areas but it failed to supply
oil to rural communities as it was
too expensive for them. The government decided to decentralise oil
production a few years ago as oil
seeds are mainly produced in rural
areas which also have a huge market
for processed oil. PIPA Enterprises,
a smalIscale business venture, is
promoting decentralised production of edible oil with the help
of Tinytech in Zimbabwe. Now
villagers can buy oil in small quantities at lower prices. Farmers are a so
happy that they don't have to pay
high transport costs for selling their
seeds in distant markets.