Presented to the public via “Pépite d’Or”, a contest organized during the 2016 Adjafi Fair trade, where it has been ranked first, the wine Dêtè Sulum K’rina (our well-appreciated drink, in the Kabyè language) produced from natural fruits becomes worthy of emulation.
Even if fruits Transformation projects are not new in our areas, those related to the transformation of natural fruits into wine and which have gone through specialized laboratories like this one are unusual. Dealing with the challenge, the staff of the ‘African’s Head’, a company founded by some students in agronomy and led by a twenty-year student, Kagni Ben is taking up the challenge.
What an obvious observation in Africa! Consuming fruits hands with the seasons due to the lack of their conservation. “In period of fruit abundance, there is a huge lost due to decay, absence of consumption and conservation. We have been motivated by this idea, to produce a soft drink based on fruits, not as juice but rather wine” he said.
According to our respondent, for this project to be effective, we received a hand in technical expertise in the transformation of local product from the International Association of Agronomy Students and Related Science (IAAS) and a financial support of 10,000 F CFA from my mother to engage in the first production of the K’rina wine.
K’rina is produced from the combination of natural fruits such as watermelon, melon, and orange and received considerable attention from the Institut Togolais des Recherches Agronomiques (ITRA) and the Ecoles Supérieures des Techniques Biologiques et Alimentaire (ESTBA) of the Université de Lomé. Consumers welcomed this new product due to its innovation. “The number of consumers starts increasing and the west African people start being interested by the product. Referring to our yield capacities, we are able to produce 200 bottles of wine per month, but we still need financial, technical, and media supports to increase the production as quick as possible” he said.
For The leader of the project which has been ranked first with an amount of 2,000,000 FCFA, “it is a great happiness and achievement for us. We hope that the project will be a reference in drink production for the coming five (5) years in Africa”.
We say “a big thank you to all the staff of contest known as ‘Pépite d’Or’, and which aims at encouraging entrepreneurial spirit of young students, to the Maxcom agency and some partners. The best is yet to come”.
For more information, call: 00228 90 68 48 72
Bernard Yao Adzorgenu
