The solution increases access to healthy and substantial food by adding value to tigernut to supply the growing nature of Urbanization with rich nutrients. Tigernut is an ancient Egyptian cultivated crop. Many people would prefer to call it super food because of their nutritional and health benefit. It has high fiber content to keep the digestive system in perfect shape, good source of magnesium to enhance biochemical interactions of the body, high amount of potassium for proper functioning of the cells of human body, enough vegetable protein and many more.
In Ghana, these crops grow well but do not have due recognition because no value is added to it. They are only consumed as snacks. In July 2015, a local news portal reported that many farmers are losing interest in the trade because of the "no value addition" situation. The lifestyle of urban dwellers prevent them from snacking on the tigernut because the chaff produced after chewing creates inconvenience. The tigernut is not treated well for sale, they are exposed to the opened environment making them prone to contamination and unhygienic for consumption despite how nutritious they are.
The prevalence of malnutrition is high in Ghana. Only few people can afford imported food commodities like milk. About 6.8 million Ghanaians, representing 23.4 percent of the population, could not afford to spend more than GH¢4.82—approximately US$1—a day in 2016/17.(Ghana Statistical Service (GSS)
We see a great need to develop to develop healthy and nutritious food products from tigernut to fill the need of developing countries like Ghana where most of its food products are imported.
We separate the juice from the chaff and process them into a milk drink and biscuit. Tigernut has starch equal to cassava and twice of sweet potatoes. The starch is extracted to make a laundry starch spray for ironing. Nothing of the tigernut turns waste during processing.
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