Palm oil production in the Abonse community
Moses Kofi Tetteh, 19 years of age, separating palm fruits from the bunch. Depending on the size of the harvest, this part of process can take 2 to 3 hours to complete.
The palm fruits have to be cooked to aid the extraction of the oil. This is being handled by his mother, Madam Mary Nsor.
The cooked palm fruits are taken to the machine which pounds the fruits into a mush to help the extraction of the oil from the pulp.
This stage of the process is where the pulp is loaded into another machine to be squeezed.
Emelia Ofori, 21 years, and Kofi Manu using the man-powered sieve to squeeze the oil out of the mush of palm fruits.
Kofi Manu, stirring the extracted palm oil on the fire as a final process in the production. This must be done before it is bottled and sold.
With an oil press provided by ICI, the Abonse community in Ghana can generate additional income by extracting the oil from the palm trees growing in and around the community. Have a look at how palm oil is made.
