Technical handbook on composite flours: processing of tropical flours into bread

Abstract

Africa's wheat imports rose from 3.6 million tons in 1961 to 22.4 million tons in 1995; the corresponding bill rose from US$ 251 million in 1961 to US$ 4339 million in 1995. This represents a steady increase of 5.6 per cent per year in terms of quantity and 8.1 per cent per year in terms of value. Over the last decade, Africa has spent a cumulated amount of nearly US$ 36 billion on this commodity alone. This trend must be stopped by implementing a drastic policy decision as expressed in "The Wheat Trap" by Gunilla and Beckman which can be summarized as follows; "If Africans want to eat bread, let it be! But they must eat bread made from their own locally produced raw materials." This is the overall concern of this Handbook which provides the necessary techno economic information and policy guidelines to allow African countries to utilize indigenous local raw materials in their milling and baking industries.