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During his visit, the Prince met with women who are being supported by Propcom to make a better living from acha (or fonio), a cereal crop grown in parts of West Africa which is a traditional food for many communities.

Why Acha is the Next Quinoa

Acha has been called "the next Quinoa" due to its high nutrient content. But acha production is currently in decline. Manual processing of the small grains is extremely labour-intensive. As Change Mann, a farmer from Plateau State, explained, "The problem for us is that acha is very hard to process. It is time consuming and requires a lot of labour. It takes me four days to dehull and winnow a 50kg bag of acha. Washing, destoning, and drying takes me another day. It is difficult to do all this with other demands."

How we Process Fonio (Acha)

Machine processing is much more efficient than manual processing. But small scale acha producers can’t afford these machines. Propcom has helped solve this challenge by finding a Nigerian company, Pye Ryat, that makes acha processing machines.. Together, Propcom and Pye Ryat developed a strategy to provide processing services to producers in rural communities. The service has already been used by thousands of farmers. "I first used the machine service in January 2016," Change said. "I was very surprised at how quickly it did the job. The machines takes about 40 minutes to dehull, destone and winnow the same quantity of acha that previously took me four days to complete."

Pye Ryat Whole Grain Fonio

Propcom has also supported Pye Ryat in seeking investors to scale up their commercial processing operation. The acha that is processed by Pye Ryat’s machines is free from sand, a major constraint to selling manually processed acha to the formal market. The grain, which is mostly used for making porridge and biscuits, is now to be found in supermarkets in Nigeria’s urban centres. Pye Ryat is also currently fulfilling an export order to the USA. At the demonstration event, Prince Charles even asked to take some acha home with him. Pye Ryat Foods International Limited