To improve the performance of his growing business, Luc Assavedo, Founder of Agro Espace, made a winning bet on a local inventor. Agro Espace is a Beninese company involved in the transformation of pineapple into natural fruit juice marketed in bottles under the brands “Bravo Star” and “JUNATAS”. Despite the two and a half tons of pineapple processed per day and more than 10,000 litres of juice produced each week, Agro Espace is struggling to meet growing demand.
The company decided to replace its semi-artisanal production system with a more efficient production process. Mr. Assavedo then called on Roger Ahouansou, an agricultural machinery engineer at INRAB (National Institute for Agricultural Research in Benin). Together, they developed a more efficient pineapple juice extractor that runs on diesel.
“With the old system, we crushed all the pineapple. But this new system releases the juice separately and the meal separately,” said Luc Assavedo. Agro Espace also recorded a considerable gain in productivity. “With this extractor, we can reach 6 tons per day compared to 2.5 tons with the old system.”