Privatized eight years ago, the Ethiopian Spice Extraction Factory, now owned by a local entrepreneur is set to commercialize animal feed and pesticide extracted from a toxic plant seed technically known as Abyssinian mustard, an Ethiopian mustard variety, or locally termed as senafich.
In an effort to substitute the cost of animal feed that is believed to constitute some 70 percent of the poultry farms’ investment, the new extract dubbed, “Detoxified and Defatted Ethiopian Mustard Mill” is said to have a competitive leverage and potential to reduce protein deficiencies sustained in the livestock and poultry sector. This in turn has a negative effect on the productivity of both the livestock and poultry industries in Ethiopia.
Feleke Sibhatu, general manager of Ethiopian Spice Extraction PLC, told The Reporter that firms that extract and process oil out of Abyssinian mustard for long have been dumping the expeller cake, which the spice extracting firm is now using to develop marketable animal feed and pesticide in bulk. By Feleke’s estimates, most of the oil crushing houses in Ethiopia that process and extract oil from mustard have been dumping 400,000 to 500,000 quintals of expeller cake, annually. In some remote cases, the byproduct has been used as fuel.
Due to its toxicity and anti-nutritional elements, the expeller cake was not considered as an essential byproduct so far, Feleke explained.
After years of research, Feleke, who is an economist and a chemical engineer by profession, has managed to synthesize the expeller cake as a major source of input to process animal feed. The research team Feleke led also found out that the toxic nature of the mustard cake is potentially viable to process and manufacture pesticides suitable for farmlands is progressing for large scale manufacturing in the foreseeable future.
During a poultry sector meeting held earlier this month, the new alternative feed which is said to have some 46 percent protein has received a warm welcome by the feed experts and poultry farm owners. Yet, the company has been urged to ensure quality and adequate supply of the detoxified and defatted feed to the sector. The company is processing to obtain patent right and register the two products in the country’s Veterinary Drugs and Feed Administration and Control Authority soon.
Ethiopian Spice Extraction Factory is one of the sister companies owned and managed by Akalu Geleta, who also have stakes in Akakas Logistics PLC, one of top logistics company in Ethiopia, Ertale Salt Work PLC, a salt mining company in Afar region, Solutions PLC, a modern stone crushing plant around Addis and Essential Farm, a 450 hectare commercial farm that cultivates both maize and soy beans. The Spice Extraction Factory produces edible oil and wheat flour in addition to processing different varieties of spices.
[The Reporter]