Tropentag 2021, September 15 - 17, hybrid conference, Germany "Towards shifting paradigms in agriculture for a healthy and sustainable future"

Valuation in the Ginger Value Chain: Extraction of Essential Oil from Ginger Roots (rhizomes)

IFAD, Togo

Abstract

Ginger is a flowering plant that originated in Southeast Asia. It’s among the healthiest spices on the planet. The rhizome (underground part of the stem) is the part commonly used as a spice. The total production of ginger in the world is 1683.00 thousand tons with the total acreage of 310.43 thousand ha. China, India, Nepal and Thailand are the major producers of ginger in the world, having production of 396.60 thousand tons, 385.33 thousand tons, 210.79 thousand tons and 172.68 thousand tons respectively. Africa as a whole accounts for 5% of the world ginger market and remains a price taker. Among Africa countries, Nigeria is the largest producer (152,106 tons), followed by Cameroon, Côte d'Ivoire, Ethiopia and Fiji (FAO, 2009). Worldwide, the demand for ginger is constantly increasing, especially in these times of Covid 19 and the demand for ginger oil has been estimated at 517.68 tons once a year. This demand is expected to reach 4,212 tons by 2022. In Togo, annual ginger production is estimated at 60,000 tons at the national level. The western part of the Plateaux region is its main production area. On the local market, the demand for ginger is constantly increasing and national production is still insufficient. The deficit is filled by imports from other countries in the sub-region such as Nigeria. Despite this insufficient production, losses occur throughout the chain since some actors cannot even sell their products to maintain production. The objective of our project is first to regroup the producers, then by extracting the essential oil of ginger which will be commercialised on the local and international market, to quickly valorize the harvests to avoid the losses and thus relaunch the production.

Keywords: Ginger, ginger oil, ginger root, rhizome, Togo

Contact Address: Ayao Dzigbodi Midodji, IFAD, Lomé, Togo, e-mail: midodjiayao24gmail.com