Firm to import diesel machines
LOCAL firm, Oil Castor, intends to import 20 biodiesel manufacturing machines from South Africa for distribution to farmers countrywide to empower and encourage them to grow the crop.
The bio-technology company sells engineered castor bean seed for farmers to grow the crop, which it then buys back from the farmers in Zimbabwe and other countries in Africa once harvested.
Castor bean is used to produce biodiesel and a wide range of products such as cosmetic oils and soaps, industrial, lubrication, and health oils.
Media reports say in Africa, Kenya is among the first countries in the region to have both research and commercial biodiesel refineries, as it seeks to cut on non-renewable fuels.
East Africa’s largest economy has a programme, which requires that in 2022, refiners should blend about 21 billion gallons of bio-fuel into the country’s total fuel consumption.
While castor beans have many commercial and medicinal uses, its potential as a source of biodiesel would come in handy to cut the fuel import bill, given Zimbabwe is nearly a net importer.
In an interview, Oil Castor co-founder Portia Maphosa said her organisation was finalising the paperwork to bring into the country the machinery, procured at a cost of US$60 000.
“These diesel plants that we are acquiring are based on the type of oil that we are using to make the diesel, which was engineered from seed from our castor beans.
“So the partners that we are now working with in South Africa have been able to use the oil that we have been manufacturing in Zimbabwe. The machines are still in South Africa because we haven’t gotten our Zera licence yet, but they have given us the greenlight to now bring the equipment to Zimbabwe then from there we will carry on with licensing after we have produced the diesel in Zimbabwe,” she said.
In Harare, Oil Castor will undertake a pilot project for the bio-diesel plant in Beatrice.
“And because we want to create a positive environment on the market, we as a company want to facilitate the means for people to produce the diesel. Should there be surplus, we will be able to procure it and then sell it back outside of Zimbabwe.
“We want the people to produce the diesel for sale and for their own consumption. When we get the farmers in one area providing the amount of seeds for this thing to be functioning that’s when we’ll be bringing the machine in that area because you have to have the raw material,” said Mrs Maphosa.
Once operational, each of the planned bio-diesel producing machines needs 400 kilogrammes of seeds that will be converted into 240 litres of diesel daily.
“And out of that, we are also going to have 40 litres of glycerine that will come out of it. So, every three days, we need a tonne of castor beans,” she said.
So far, Oil Castor has about 1 000 farmers across Zimbabwe who have bought the engineered seeds.
However, Mrs Maphosa said out of the 1 000 farmers who bought the seeds only 200 have started producing and delivering their harvests to Oil Castor are just 200 farmers.
She said this was because some of the farmers procure the inputs but just sit on them, preferring to do something else rather than growing castor beans.
Oil Castor, Mrs Maphosa said, had enough stored castor beans at its plant in Harare to start producing the bio-diesel as soon as the machines come into Zimbabwe.
“So, that’s the nice thing about us pioneering that, we’ve been pre-planning our steps to get to where we are and now we are just calling out to say more people should come in so that we never turn off our machines.
“With more surplus and if we have got more beans, we can now start another project that can allow us to reduce the importation bill.”
Mrs Maphosa said if Oil Castor can supply and satisfy the local market with bio-diesel their focus would be on exporting excess product.
“As a company, we have been able to do vaseline and once we’ve been able to complete the distribution locally and have satisfied the needs of the people, I am sure vaseline will not be imported anymore.
“Currently, petroleum jelly is the biggest imported ingredient for vaseline and it’s an expensive product, but it doesn’t have to be when it’s being farmed in the rural areas locally.
“And this is even a healthier version of oil for the black people and even for the white people it serves as sunscreen reducing cancer or even the medical bills and unnecessary deaths that we are currently facing,” she said.-The Herald
