The role of post-harvest management in assuring the quality and safety of produce is of significant importance  in crop production. The  ALLGRAIN food extruder was  invented to improve the post handling of cereals such as maize and rice. The basic components of the ALLGRAIN food extruder (which is a modified oil-expeller) mainly include:  

• A feeding unit or storage bin above the extruder that meters the raw ingredients into the extruder.  
• Extruder barrel which is a pipe-like retainer in which the screw turns.  
• Screw which is the core of the extruder that conveys the product through the extruder. The flight of the screw pushes the product forward. The screw determines not only the quality of the product but also the output of the extruder. The ALLGRAIN extruder is a single screw type.  
• Sleeve plate which is the final assembly for back-pressure build-up for the product as it leaves the extruder.  
• Cutting station which ensures that the pre-cooked product is cut into small pieces.  
• Gear box, motor, and controls 

Quick guidelines for the production of pre-cooked flours include:
a)  Low  cost  pre-cooking.  Low  cost  pre-cooking  and  mixing  technologies  which  are  used  to produce quick-to cook flour-based foods, such as weaning foods, and thin and stiff porridge (uji and ugali, respectively). This involves quality assurance right from the time of harvesting the cereals to be processed.  
b)  Grain cleaning. Grain-cleaning and moisture control which involves cleaning the grains at the farm gate before delivery to the appropriate processor. Primary cleaning involves the removal of debris and all foreign matter, maintaining stable moisture content of approximately 12% and storing the grains in moisture and pest free areas.  
c)  Primary quality assurance. The processor, upon receiving the grains, has to subject the grains to quality control to ensure that primary quality assurance is attained.  
d)  Mixing technology. Ensures that the grains are properly mixed. It involves use of a mixer that has 2 two types of unit operations in the course of producing  pre-cooked flour products using the extrusion technology:  

• The seeds are moistened to attain 18% water content. Mixing seeds do this with water for about 10 min to ensure 95% moisture homogeneity.  
• Mixing of  flours of different grains to obtain composite  flours. This  is done  for about 10 min for a 20 kg batch.  

e)  Extrusion  technology.  This  involves  introducing  the  seeds  into  the  pre-cooking  equipment slowly until the pressure is built up, which in turn raises the temperature to above 100 ⁰C. Care should be taken not to over-feed the extruder; otherwise, it will jam and break down.  

f)  Milling  and  packing.  Milling  of  the  final  product  is  done  to  the  desired  particle  size  and packaging is done using the appropriate packaging material, so that the product is labeled and stored ready for marketing.

All  Grain  Company,  the  co-developers  and  operators  of  this  technology  were  impressed  by  its ability to increase the production capacity, reducing work burden, achieving product homogeneity and improving product quality & hygiene, as well as improving the overall consumer acceptability of the final products.  
The  scaling  up  approaches  used  involved  collaborative  private  sector  and  multi-institutional programmes, such as:  
1.  A collaborative project between All Grain and Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture & Technology (JKUAT) in which the technology was and still is being utilized in the
production of weaning foods in the scaling-up process. The two institutions are presently satisfied with the technology.  
2.  Contract manufacturing for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) 

Currently All Grain Company is the only enterprise in Kenya utilizing this technology. However, the challenge to future scaling-up is lack of funds for:  
1.  Capacity building or training and setting up of pilot plants locally and regionally.  
2.  Improving and multiplying or replicating this technology for further use by beneficiaries.

3.  Promotion and marketing of the technology, which are fairly expensive tasks. For example production of technology promotional materials and user manuals is quite expensive since it requires a lot of funds.  
4.  Fostering Public-Private Partnership (PPP) approaches for scaling up 

Currently only (All-grain) is the only company in Kenya utilizing this technology

Table 10: Costs for Installation of ALL GRAIN Food Extruder

Simplicity  in  operation  and  height  from  ground  were  the  ey  gender  considerations  in  the development of the technology. This was intended to ensure those men, women, young children and the elderly, as well as vulnerable and marginalized groups can effectively use the technology.

In  2008,  All  Grain  Company  ltd.  entered  into  a  contractual  amaranth  growing  agreement  with Bondo  Amaranth  Farmers  Group  (BAFAM)  from  western  Kenya.    With  the  assistance  of  the Ministry of Agriculture, the farmers were trained on the best agronomic practices for growing grain amaranth. ALLGRAIN Co Ltd. has also been sourcing sorghum grain requirements from Kasikeu Sorghum Farmers, thus assuring both farmer groups of a guaranteed market, and hence a source of sustainable livelihoods (see attached annexes 1,2 & 3 on production and  incomes for BAFAM and Kasikeu sorghum farmers). On its part, ALLGRAIN Co Ltd.  has been able to plan its production
and  marketing strategies as a result of an assured source of the right quantity and quality of raw materials. Through the development and use of this technology, ALLGRAIN Co Ltd. has also been able to expand it production capacity, increase its range of product in the market and increased its work-force  from  2  to  5.    All  Grain  Company  ltd.  has  successfully  utilized  the  pre-cooking  and mixing technologies  in  manufacturing weaning  foods and whole porridge  flour utilizing  sorghum and  amaranth  grains.  Products  made  from  sorghum  and  amaranth  grains  have  good  nutritional benefits  which  addresses  both  house-  hold  health  including  vulnerable  groups/invalids  as  well  as
food security  issues. Currently, a weaning  food has  been  developed  by  ALLGRAIN Co Ltd. and Jomo  Kenyatta  University  for  Agriculture  and  Technology.  The  food  is  manufactured  through  utilization  of  both  mixing  and  pre-cooking/extrusion  technologies  and  is  currently  being  fed  to children  under  2  years  in  western  Kenya  on  Clinical  Trial  basis.  Flour  products of  sorghum  and amaranth  grains  which  have  been  pre-cooked  have  longer  shelf  lifes  (8  months)  as  compared  to non-cooked  flours  which  only  last  3  months.  Also  pre-cooking  technology  eliminates  pathogenic micro-organisms  while  also  increasing  the  digestibility  as  well  as  reducing  cooking  times  thus saving on energy and time.

These  increased  benefits  utilizing  these  two  technologies  have  made  the  flours  popular  and  thus increasing  their  acceptability.  The  major  bottleneck  is  the  fact  that  the  current  capacity  of  the extruder  is  only  500kg  per  day.  Nevertheless,  through  the  adoption  of  this  technology,  amongst other factors, the company has been able to improve its bottom line thereby enabling it to purchase a  plot  where  it  hopes  to  relocate  the  business  in  the  near  future.  ALLGRAIN  Co  Ltd.  future projection  is  to  increase  it  production  a  capacity  through  adoption  of  even  more  modern technologies so as to engage more farmer groups thereby improving their incomes

QUICK GUIDELINES FOR PRODUCTION OF PRECOOKED FLOUR
Low cost pre-cooking and mixing technologies are used to produce quick-cook flour-based foods, e.g.  weaning  foods,  thin  and  thick  porridges  (uji  and  ugali  respectively).  This  involves  quality assurances from the harvesting of the cereals to be processed.

GRAIN CLEANING AND MOISTURE CONTROL
This  involves  cleaning  the  grains  at  the  farm  gate  before  delivery  to  the  respective  processor. Primary cleaning is removal of debris/foreign matters, stable moisture contents of approx 12% and storing the grains in moisture/pest free area. The processor upon receiving the grains has to subject the grains to quality control to ensure that the primary quality assurance has been attained.

MIXING TECHNOLOGY
The  mixer  is  used  for  two  types  of  unit  operations  in  the  course  of  producing  pre-cooked  flour products using the extrusion technology (see below). The seeds are moistened to attain 18% water content. This  is done  by  mixing  both the seeds and water  mixing  for about 10 minutes to ensure 95% moisture homogeneity. Mixing of flours of different grains to obtain composite flours.  This is done for about 10 minutes for a 20 Kg batch.

EXTRUSION TECHNOLOGY
The seeds are introduced in the pre-cooking equipment slowly until the pressure is built which in turn raises the temperatures to above 100 Deg C. Care shoul d be taken not to over-feed the extruder; otherwise, it will jam and break down.

MILLING AND PACKING
Milling  of  the  final  product  is  done  to  desired  particle  size  and  packaging  done  using  the appropriate packaging material, labeled and stored ready for marketing. 

All Grain Company Limited  
P.O Box 6843 00200 Nairobi, Kenya  
Tel: +254 722 856513  
Email: allgrain2002@yahoo.com / eastafricanutraceuticals@gmail.com 

Joseph Wanyeki  
Contact supplier, East Africa Nutraceuticals  
Email: eastafricanutraceuticals@gmail.com/ wanyeki@eanutraceuticals.com

Samuel M Wambugu  
Manager, Technology Transfer & Business Development Services (TTBDS) Head and Senior
Food Research Scientist, KIRDI South (“B”) Campus  
P.O Box 30650 - 00100 GPO Nairobi, Kenya  
Tel: +254 02 555738  
Mobile: +254 722 758 781  
Fax: +254 02 558995  
Email: info@kirdi.go.ke 

Salvatory T P Kundi  
Principle Agricultural Research Officer, ARI, Ilonga  
P.O Box 33; Morogoro, Tanzania  
Email: Salva.kundi@gmail.com 

Johnnie Ebiyau  
Research Scientist, National Semi-Arid Resources Research Institute (NaSARRI)  
P.O Box Soroti, Serere, Soroti, Uganda  
Email: johnebiyau@yahoo.com