How to Start a Yam Flour Production Company

Yam is a popular food in many continents that include Africa, Asia, India, and Latin America. The delicious tuber provides much needed sustenance giving it a high economic value.

The starchy tubers have different variants of white and yellow like the species predominantly found in China, West Africa, and Asia. Africa being the hub of Yam production has an estimated output of over 80 million tons in 2014.

Yam apart from its economic value is a nutrition powerhouse loaded with vitamin B6, Potassium, loads of dietary fiber, sodium, manganese, and saturated fat. Yam tuber, which grows beneath the ground, is roasted, boiled, fried, baked, grilled, boiled or pounded.
How to Start A Corn Production Business

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Yam flour

Pounded yam is a traditional delicacy in Nigeria and several West African countries. Pounded yam is made by boiling the yam and pounding in a mortar. Yam flour has become a good alternative to this difficult process making it a nice substitute.

There are two types of yam flour eaten in West African however the composition is different. They process the yam tuber in different ways to achieve white or slightly brownish- soft flour depending on the type of yam flour needed.

Yams have a long shelf- life even without refrigeration and seem to taste better with age. Pounded yam flour can last even longer when preserved and is less bulky.

Pounded Yam

The process of making pounded yam is very laborious and time consuming. To make the delicacy they peal the yam, cut into chunks, and boiled in water. They cook the yam without adding anything like salt or condiments until it is cooked.

Then they use a special carved out tree trunk the mortar called ‘odo’ and pound the yam with a wooden pestle. The process requires lots of physical exertion and sweating which could be unhygienic.

Pounded yam flour on the other hand only needs boiling water constant stirring and low fire to cook.

Best Ways to Eating Yam

What is your preferred way of eating yam?

Top of Form

• Grilled yam
• Boiled Yam
• Fried Yam
• Cooked and Pounded yam

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Pounded Yam Flour Export Potential

Pounded yam flour is mainly used at home and social gathering, parties, and weddings. Its simplicity, lovely taste, and ease to prepare have almost rendered the traditional method to history.

Apart from the very high demand for the produce, entrepreneurs have found the flour highly exportable. The very high demand for exports is because of scarcity of yam in Europe, America, and Australia.

 The yam grows best in tropical regions like Africa, parts of India, Latin America, and Asia. Immigrants also desire the rich delicacy and are willing to pay premium price for the Yam flour.

Other factors that make yam flour attractive include good growing climate, durability, easy accessibility, and huge returns on investment.

Things Needed for Yam Flour Production

process	process	machinery
slice the yam	wash the yam	weighing machine
grate the yam	cut the yam	slice and grating machine
mill the yam and package	grind the yam	milling machine

The Production Process

    1 Buy high quality white yam

    2 Wash away the sand on the yam tubers

    3 Peel the yam tubers

    4 Wash the yam tubers

    5 Slice and grate the yam tubers

    6 Mill the granule and sieve

    7 Put the yam flour in branded packaging and seal.

Sourcing the Raw Material

The only raw material is the yam tuber found in many countries. The four geographical zones all produce different variants of the white yam species. Almost all the types of white yam produced in West Africa are good for pounded yam flour.

Supplies and Inventory

General inventory include milling machinery, factory, outfits like gloves, nose masks and special shoes. Other requirements are electricity, standby generating set, labeling, transportation, and packaging material.

The Production Process

Before starting the production process, you need to have certain things in place. You need to washout the sand from the yam, peel it, slice, and wash again. Then you dry the sliced yam, mill the yam into flour, and packaged.

Machinery and Equipment for Pounded Yam Flour    Production

You need heavy machinery for yam flour production starting with transportation. Yam is very heavy and requires heavy-duty trucks to move them from the farm to your factory.

You need a source of power supply like a generating set or steady electricity from the national grid. Other production equipment is a water storage tank and source of water.

You need a weighing machine or scale, sieve, slicer, grater, milling machine, dryer, and packaging machine. You can start a small-scale pounded yam flour business with locally sourced equipment.

Apart from the milling machine, dryer, packaging, and weighing machine, labor and other basic tools can do the remaining work.

Machinery and Equipment for Pounded Yam Flour Production

    1 Weighing scale

    2 Graters

    3 Dryer machines

    4 Sieving

    5 Milling machine

    6 Packaging and sealing machine

It is possible to produce pounded yam flour on a small scale and budget. You can scale down the equipment needed and outsource the milling of the yam. Although having your own milling machine greatly reduces the cost of production.

You can export the yam powder via air transportation or ship for larger consignments. Domestic needs are also high so sell your product in supermarkets, local stores and even online shopping websites.