For many generations, moringa tree has grown naturally around the country. Residents mainly use it for food, unaware it can be a major cash crop that could improve their lives.
In Kilifi county, for example, moringa is becoming an important crop after a foreign investor set up a factory that manufactures oil for export to international cosmetic companies.
Kilifi Moringa Estates also produces moringa flour, made from the tree’s leaves. CEO Papu Haroon set up the project in 2014 in Matsangoni, Kilifi North constituency.
He set up the factory after the tourism industry experienced a downturn. Haroon owned beach cottages at Uyombo, but the number of tourists dropped following terror attacks. He then ventured into manufacturing moringa oil and powder.
Today, his business is thriving as he exports moringa oil to the United States and Europe. The factory was set up in the site of his former resort on a remote beach in Matsangoni. The factory has changed the lives of farmers.
HOW HE STARTED
Haroon first engaged the community, including women, widows, people with disability and people living with HIV-Aids, to plant the moringa tree in order to get the raw material directly from locals.
To boost production, Haroon organised the farmers into groups and they underwent training before setting up individual farms at their homes.
He also set up a team of experts to work with the farmers to ensure they followed the proper procedure for growing moringa, from the nursery to planting and harvesting.
I caught up with him in the village, as he met farmers and inspected the crop in their farms. Haroon said the company has at least 350 outgrowers, mostly women.
During the tour, it was evident that residents have begun embracing moringa tree farming, as almost every homestead had planted the crop.
Haroon first engaged people living with HIV, who were traditionally discriminated against and suffered due to their health status.
He engaged the county’s Health department and asked for land at the Matsangoni Health Centre. Here, he planted moringa to help boost the patients’ immunity and breastfeeding mothers as well as empower them with cash from sale of the seeds.
“We came here in 2003 and set up a beach cottage business. Everything was good, but between 2010 and 2012, due to al Shabaab terror attacks, beach tourism experienced a severe decline; it was no longer a sustainable business,” he said.
He says they were forced to change business, and they set up Kilifi Moringa estate to process oil and powder for export.
At that time Haroon, who is from Seychelles, says he found out many families knew about moringa but planted it only for household consumption.
GLOBAL DEMAND
The CEO learnt that locals did not know that moringa seeds could be used to produce oil, which is in high demand in the international market by companies producing cosmetics. moringa oil is a good ingredient for skincare and hair care cosmetic products.
“Most of our outgrowers are women. Many factory workers are also women, and the oil is used for products,” Haroon said.
Kilifi Moringa Estates has since become a leading exporter of moringa oil and is pushing for increase in production locally.
The CEO says supply of moringa seeds is still a major problem, as Kilifi, and even the country, cannot sustain the demand.
Currently, the company buys moringa products from all over East and Central Africa, including Uganda, Malawi, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi and is looking into roping in Malawi.
“Just one of our customers requires about 75,000 kilos of seeds to meet their order, so it’s really not enough and we have had to turn outside Kenya,” he says.
Haroon says the company is a regional business that supports farmers all over the East and Central African region.
He says there are 22 permanent staff at the factory, and during high season, they employ over 45.
Moringa takes up to three years to mature, after which it begins producing seeds, which are the key raw material used to process high-value oil used in cosmetics.
The CEO spent more than Sh120 million to set up the factory. More than Sh20 million goes to farmers to buy seeds.
SEED PROCESSING
At the factory, the seeds are offloaded from trucks and workers measure their weight. Isaac Mumba, an employee of Kilifi Moringa Estates, says they then inspect their quality and remove any waste, such as stones.
The seeds are then separated between organic and conventional. Organic seeds grow naturally without any chemicals or fertilisers and must be certified with a stamp.
Safety measures have to be observed and all workers are required to have on safety gear in the factory. A decorating machine shells the seeds for oil extraction.
At the main factory, there is an oil production engineer, who is a woman from Kilifi county. The moringa seeds are pressed with a machine to extract the oil and then the oil is allowed to settle and loaded into barrels, ready for export.
Haroon says for every litre of oil produced, they use about four to five kilos of moringa seeds.
Currently, the order in place will give the farmers between Sh18 million to Sh20 million.
“Notably, we support thousands of farmers in Kilifi, but there are thousands of others in East And Central Africa,” he says.
The factory has two machines, one large one for producing the conventional moringa oil, and the other produces organic moringa oil.
The company also processes moringa leaves into powder, which is highly nutritious. The starch left over after the seeds are pressed is used for producing biogas right at the factory
Haroon says with moringa, nothing goes to waste, and this helps them utilise everything that comes after the seeds are processed.
In the farms, they target average farmers of childbearing age, particularly a woman in early 30s or 40s who is depended on by more than seven people, which in the broader perspective offers a big support to the families struggling to survive.
Locally, the project has had a positive impact, but more needs to be done to increase the supply to meet demand.
To achieve this, the county government can come up with massive production of moringa, which would be sold to the company for production of oil and powder.