The Power of Peanut Butter

Africare Program Improves the Lives of African Women with This Simple Food

Washington , D.C., October 7, 2004 — Mrs. Mahubane and other women in her South African village had a dilemma. There were very few jobs available in their village, but they did not want to leave their children behind to journey to the big cities in search of work. Their solution was to start their own business in their own village, which would provide local jobs, as well as produce a food product in great demand: peanut butter.

Africare's assistance helped to make these women's dream a reality. Africare provided both manual and engine-powered grinding machines to the women's group, and trained the women in business planning, personnel management, record keeping, budgeting, marketing, and cash flow analysis. Today, Mrs. Mahubane is Chairperson of the Kodumela Peanut Butter Project, which produces nearly 900 pounds of peanut butter a month, is operating out of a new factory provided by Africare, and will soon start growing its own nuts on land donated by the local chief.

In neighboring Zimbabwe, Mrs. Chauke attended a demonstration by an Africare field worker of a peanut butter grinding mill. She realized immediately that this mill was definitely an improvement over the stone grinding method she had been using. Indeed, with the use of the new mill, her output increased from nine pounds of peanut butter a day to 22 pounds. Mrs. Chauke's children now eat foods fortified by the highly nutritious peanut butter, and Mrs. Chauke is able to earn income through selling the peanut butter directly or by charging others in the community to grind their nuts for them.

Mrs. Mahubane and Mrs. Chauke's experiences illustrate the simple interventions that help African women improve their own-and their families'-quality of life. Prior to Africare's introduction of the grinding mills, the women would either use the labor-intensive stone grinding method or feed the nuts they grew into a long process that took the profits out of their hands. The women would sell the nuts to the village middleman, who would sell to the millers, who would sell peanut butter to the wholesalers, who would sell to the retailers, who would sell peanut butter back to the village women. Now, thanks to Africare, the women have the skills to grow, process, package, and market-and reap the profits-themselves.

In addition to the economic benefits of peanut butter production, the nutritional benefit of peanut butter has also proved useful in addressing Sub-Saharan Africa's enormous health crisis: HIV/AIDS. Peanut butter is rich in protein and oils, which are essential to improving the nutritional status of people living with AIDS. With improved nutrition, Africans who have HIV/AIDS can live longer and more productive lives.

Back to News Index