How To Start A Plantain Flour Mill in

Nigeria
By: Darlinton Omeh - In: Food Processing - 26 comments

Short Report: Plantain is a

food crop that can be grown and processed profitably in Nigeria.
Plantain is a  major source of food in many regions throughout Nigeria.
Study shows that the production of plantain the production of plantain
is over 80 million metric tones per year. Despite this figure, demand
still outstrips supply.

Plantain can either be used for domestic consumption or used as input

by other producers. For instance, plantain can be processed into chips
or flour and sold locally or export abroad.

Plantain flour has now become a popular food today in both local and
international market. In Nigeria, the potential national demand for
plantain flour has been estimated to be in excess of 300,000
Tonnes/Annul.

The current supply level is probably less than 20% of the estimated
demand with only few companies producing on mechanized and
commercial scale.

The facilities required for a small/medium scale plantain flour mill

include drying machine, slicing/chipping machine, milling machine and
packaging machine.
The average production cost per Kg of plantain flour is N236, while the
average retail price per Kg of good quality plantain flour is N330 per
Kg.

Plantain is the major raw material for plantain flour production, and it
is available all year round in commercial quantities in many parts of
Nigeria. Nigeria is said to be the largest producer of plantain in West
Africa.

The processing line for plantain flour production is as follows:

1. Sorting: This involves inspection of plantain fingers to identify and

remove unsuitable ones i.e. spoilt, immature pulps e.t.c.

2. Weighing: The sorted plantains are properly weighed to quantify

input of the raw plantain.

3. Blanching: The green plantain fruits are soaked in hot water for
some minutes to soften the skin for easy peeling.

4. Peeling: The plantain peels are removed manually using sharp

knives to obtain the pulp.

5. Slicing/Chipping: The pulp is sliced or chipped with the aid of a

mechanical slicer.

6. Drying: The sliced plantain is dried in a short time with the aid of an
industrial drying machine.

7. Milling: The dried plantain slices/chips are milled in a hammer mill.

8. Sieving: The flour is sieved to obtain the desire particle size.

9. Packaging: The flour is packaged in moisture proof packaging

material ready for sale.

Now, if you operate a plantain flour mill that has the capacity to
process 1tone of plantain flour per day, and you implement a good and
efficient marketing strategy, the following average monthly figures are
true:

Production volume per month = 29tones (29000Kg)

Sales = N9, 570,000
Direct cost of sales = N6, 844,000
Miscellaneous = N500,000
Profit per month = N2,226,000.

Plantain flour mill can be operated profitably any where in Nigeria. The
start-up cost at a small scale is approximately N6,000,000. This will
cover the cost of procurement of land, factory construction,
furniture, vehicle and procurement/installation of machinery.