Processing Plants for Ghana's Cocoa, Shea, Fruit, Cassava and Rice

Ghana's semi-deciduous forest zone grows cocoa and citrus, and cassava and plantain are grown there too. Cocoa beans are fermented on the farm and roasted in the factory, and pressing cocoa liquor yields cocoa butter and cake. Pineapple grows on well-drained sandy soils, and mango and tomato are among the other fruit and vegetable crops grown in the country. Together with citrus and cassava, these feed juice, pulp, flour, paste and starch processing.

Further north, the Guinea savanna zone has shea trees, with sheanuts listed among its tree crops alongside rice, tomato and cassava. The nuts are traditionally boiled and sun-dried to separate the kernel, and the step from dried kernel to pressed and refined butter is where mechanical crushing, pressing and refining equipment becomes relevant. Rice is grown in the same zone, and parboiling, the partial boiling of rice in the husk before milling, protects the grain from breaking during milling.

Possible users of plants like these include cocoa and shea processors, fruit juice and pulp makers, starch and flour millers, and cooperatives that want to move from raw commodity sales to semi-finished products. Tema and Takoradi are ports run by the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority, and equipment may arrive through either of them.