Peanut Butter Profits: Part Two!

In 2024, our partners in the Kayoro Osukuru Multipurpose Co-op Society (better known as KOMCOS) came to us with a business plan to capitalize on their success growing groundnuts. (They’re similar to peanuts here in the U.S.) They wanted to add value to their harvests by selling various products made with groundnuts, rather than just the nuts in their basic form. This way they would receive 2-3 times the income for the same amount of groundnuts.

Thanks to Give Us Wings donors and a generous grant from Tomberg Family Philanthropies, we were able to purchase the machinery KOMCOS needed to start their own peanut butter production!

A large machine now separates the nuts from their shells, a process that would take an enormous amount of time if done by hand.

Shelled nuts are weighed and sorted into batches.

Nuts are roasted over a fire to enhance the flavor.

Co-op members then remove the reddish skins from the shelled and roasted nuts.

Roasted nuts are fed into the grinder…

…and out comes the finished product!

KOMCOS’ peanut butter is then packed into bags or tubs which the members sell to neighbors and local markets. They have also set up a shop in their work place so people can make purchases there as well. We’re so proud of the work KOMCOS has put into this enterprise and the truly cooperative spirit they have embraced. We wish them much success with their sales and look forward to sharing more results in the future!