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Tendai Gukutikwa
Post Correspondent
MUTARE Polytechnic College’s Hospitality Department has set up a processing plant to value add, and commercialise cowpeas by producing stock feed, organic cooking oil, flour, coffee and other products.
The business, which is expected to grow extensively as it already has a strong market base across Manicaland, exhibited its cowpeas by-products at the recently held Manicaland Agricultural Show.
In an interview, a lecturer in the department, Mrs Betty Isaac-Sithole, said the heritage-based education born business only started as a mere idea after the institution had a bumper cowpeas harvest during the 2020/21 farming season at their farm.
She said while anchored on the National Development Strategy (NDS1), the institution operates with the Education 5.0 in mind which shifts from theory to practical learning.
“This is Education 5.0 at its best as stated in the NDS1, and we are training manpower as an institution. While our students are learning, they are also making money for the institution and for themselves. Our students are on the forefront of producing these products, and they are guaranteed that after graduating they will have something to generate income for themselves.
“We harvested more than six tonnes of cowpeas which was meant to feed students, but we realised that it was a bumper harvest, and our students would not consume them all without them being affected by weevils. We researched, and came up with the idea to set up a processing plant where we would make by-products for the college and for sale.
“The best way was to value add the cowpeas so that they stay longer in our storage facilities,” she said.
Mrs Isaac-Sithole said what only started as an idea was on its way to becoming a multi-million dollar business as they were strengthening their local market and looking for exports.
She said they were on the second stage of their project where they were prototyping, and distributing where clients were placing big orders.
“This is a pacesetter brand, proudly owned by Mutare Polytechnic College, and we are looking to supply other colleges around the country with our product which is 100 percent organic.
“Cowpeas are easy to grow crops, Most of us grew up consuming them, but we are now doing so via different products. We are discovering that we can make more products using cowpeas, like instant porridges, gravies, spices, vegetarian sausages and a lot other products,” said Mrs Isaac-Sithole.
She said all cowpeas by-products have medicinal purposes as they do not have animal fat and cholesterol added to them.
Cowpeas coffee is also good for asthmatic and hay fever patients as it clears the nasal passage and helps with breathing.
The products also cater for diabetic patients as it has the right proportions of every nutrient required for them.
“What is really interesting is that cowpeas are readily available. Looking at our climate, cowpeas are drought resistant, and can be grown anywhere and then turned into an income generating project,” she said.
She added that the business had resulted in institution cutting on expenditures, and planning to grow cowpeas on a much larger scale this season.
Online Reporter