The castor seed development project initiated by Agropeace plc has launched a full scale plantation on six hectares of land according to sources. The agro investment company established by six Israeli investors aims to produce export quality seeds in three month cycles.

Agropeace has been conducting a pilot for the project in Somali Region within local communities for the past four years. The pilot project involved testing a variety of castor seed types with 46 people representing 22 households in the community taking part in the project said Anteneh Gelaye, Chief Operation Manger for the Pilot Project.

The castor seed project relies on human labor said Anteneh. It is expected that 90 quintals of castor  seeds will be harvested from each hectare every four month he added. The success of the first phase of the project will help the company to expand the plantation to the remaining hectares of the land it had been given according to Anteneh.  

Agropeace aims to establish a crude castor oil producing plant in the coming two or three years to produce export standard castor oil he noted.

Source: Addis Fortune