A team of four students from Kabarak University, led by Faith Wandia, a Master’s Degree in Business Administration, has come up with an innovative solution to address the issue of food shortage in the country. The team has invented ugali flour made from grass, which, if approved for commercial sale, will retail at Ksh35 per kilo.
Wandia’s motivation for this invention was to address the number of people succumbing to hunger as a result of drought in the country. She thought about converting the cellulose found in grass into edible starch to curb the food deficit. In 2020, she assembled a team comprising Innocent Bahati (Clinical Medicine), Salome Njeri (Economics), and Edgar Ruto (Computer Science) to actualize her dream.
The team uses Bermuda and Ryegrass, which takes between two to three months to maturity. Harvested grass is then dried and crushed into a powder. The powder then undergoes a scientific process to make it fit for human consumption. This involves adding water and enzymes to the mix to convert cellulose to amylose, which is almost similar to the starch found in maize. The powder loses its green color and turns almost white, with a texture and smell similar to maize flour.
Once approved for commercialization, the item will trade at Ksh35, factoring in the cost of producing a kilogram of the flour (Ksh23 per kilo) plus other expenses. The team has already tabled their application with the Kenya Industrial Property Institute to patent the product. However, the innovation is yet to be addressed by medics and the Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS).
Overall, this innovation has the potential to address the issue of food shortage in the country, especially in areas where maize flour, the primary source of ugali, is expensive or scarce.
