Peanut butter: a sticky problem for women farmers

Peanut butter production is labour intensive and often associated with poor hygiene and contamination amongst retailers. These problems limit its appeal to formal markets and reduce the earning potential of the women who make it.

Traditionally-produced peanut butter is largely marketed informally, because most formal outlets insist on the product meeting high quality standards. The issues of hygiene and storage life are very important, and there are gaps in the knowledge of these issues amongst most rural producers.

Selling peanut butter in local markets can still be a profitable business for households, but women farmers consider the slow manual aspect of production to be a constraint to generating household income. Improving processing techniques could help poor farmers supply the more profitable formal markets.

A project run by the Crop Post-Harvest Programme, funded by the UK’s Department for International Development, assessed peanut butter processing in Zambia and Zimbabwe. The research focused on drawing lessons from enterprises that have succeeded or failed.

The project made several achievements:

• Formal outlets, especially supermarkets, accept products on the basis of food laws. Market analysis showed that supply did not meet demand and opportunities for export peanut butter existed, if standards could be improved.
• New guidelines were created for producing high quality peanut butter which is safe for consumption.
• Peanut grinders, which previously had several problems and inconsistencies, were modified to ease operation and increase the output of high quality peanut butter.
• The researchers established the best conditions for operating the equipment and organised training of equipment for manufacturers, distributors and processors.
• Small-scale processors and non governmental organisations were given a video of these new techniques to improve peanut butter processing. Most small-scale processors adopted the recommended methods and appreciated the importance of safety and quality.

The Standards Association of Zimbabwe (SAZ), the City of Harare's health department and representatives of major retail outlets played an important role in research and training processes. One farmer group obtained SAZ certification and other groups are working towards this.

The project also discovered the potential for establishing viable peanut butter enterprises in rural Zambia. Groundnuts were abundant but peanut butter was still imported. Small scale peanut butter processors are now able to access formal markets. Farmers stated that they are now living and eating better through improved incomes from peanut butter marketing.

The project has some important policy lessons:

• Meeting food laws and acquiring government certification is a key to accessing formal markets.
• Institutions that develop or enforce policies should allow their staff to participate and review results of poverty-oriented research. This provides opportunities to understand the environment under which poor people live and make informed decisions or recommendations, bringing them into the development process.

Source(s):
‘Raising rural family incomes through improved peanut butter processing’, DFID Crop Post-Harvest Programme summary, 2005 Full document.

Funded by: DFID Project R7419

id21 Research Highlight: 8 November 2005

Further Information:
Tungamirai Rukuni
Development Technology Centre
P O Box MP 167
Mount Pleasant
Harare
Zimbabwe

Tel: +263 (0) 4334257
Fax: +263 (0) 4333407 or +263 (0) 4 304989
Contact the contributor: rukuni@agric.uz.ac.zw

Development Technology Center, University of Zimbabwe

DFID Crop Post Harvest Programme, UK

Other related links:
'Pictures speak louder than words: supporting learning for African women farmers'

'Linking rural livelihoods to poverty reduction strategies in Africa'

'Getting to market: support for smallholder farmers'

Standards Association of Zimbabwe

International Organization for Standardization