Soya beans the miracle seeds, belong to the legume family and are native to East Asia. They have been an important source of protein for that part of the world for over five thousand years. It originated from China. In 2853 BC, Emperor Sheng-Nung of China named five sacred plants – soybeans, rice, wheat, barley, and millet. Soya bean plants were domesticated by the Chinese between 17th and 11th century BC where they were cultivated into a food crop. Soya beans were considered as one of the five holy crops alongside rice, wheat, barley and millet. Soya beans are very versatile and are consumed by both humans and livestock. Although most soybeans are yellow,
there are also rare varieties which are black, brown or even green.

The first soya beans arrived in America in the early 1800's. It was not until 1879 that a few brave farmers began to plant soya beans as forage for their livestock. Around 1900 the US Department of Agriculture was conducting tests on soya beans and encouraging their farmers to plant them as animal feed. In 1904, the famous American chemist, G. W. Carver discovered that soya beans are a valuable source of protein and oil.
Although soya beans are native to Southeast Asia, 55 percent of production is in the United States. The US produced 75 million metric tons of soybeans in 2000 of which more than one-third was exported. Other leading producers of soya beans are Argentina, Brazil, China and India. Much of the US production is either fed to animals or exported, though US consumption of soy by people has been increasing. Brazil is expected to become the world's biggest soybean exporter in 2004, displacing the United States from the top seat.

Historically it was not quite clear when soya beans entered Africa, although it is believed that it might be as early as the 1800s in the Eastern coast of Africa since that region had had earlier trade contacts with the Chinese. The earliest known cultivation of soya beans in Africa was in 1896, when they were grown in Algeria by a French Agronomist Trabut, at a government botanical station there. The next know record of cultivation was in 1903 when they were grown South Africa at Cedara in Natal and in the Transvaal.
Starting from 1908 there was dramatic increase in interest in growing of soya beans in Africa, as Europe began to import soya beans from Manchuria in large quantities in response to a severe shortages and high prices of oil. By then Earopean nations turned to their colonies as potential areas for the cultivation of soya beans. By 1908 the British have started growing soya beans in the middle belt of Nigeria on a small scale and after some tests and analysis, soya beans were found to flourish and grow well there hence the middle belt of Nigeria particularly Benue State is the home of soya beans cultivation today. Nigeria is currently the largest producers of soya bean in Africa with an annul production of 500,000 metric tons valued at N300 billion and seconded only by South Africa.

The Business Opportunity for Investors in Small Scale Soya Beans Processing in Nigeria: The processing of soya beans is very complex. Soya beans contains poisonous inhibitors if when not properly remove is injurious both to humans and livestock. The oil content in soya beans is just about 20% on the maximum and a may be much less in other varieties. However, soya beans oil is of a high quality without cholesterol and in the grade of olive oil. Soya beans contains a very high quality protein reputed to be superior to animal protein and it has numerous health and medicinal properties.
The money making opportunities we are advocating here is in setting up a small scale soya beans processing factory that would produce high quality soya beans oil and soya beans cake/meal. On a large scale, the commercial production of soya bean oil is an expensive and complex process because such venture employ the chemical extraction method which uses a chemical solvent called hexane to extract the oil from the flaked beans. We discourage this method because it is very expensive and more-so is not Eco-friendly as the chemical Hexane is a cancer causing agent which if not properly removed could get into the food chain of humans beings.
As a result we are advocating a mechanical method called dry extrusion to process our soya beans. This is a simple method perfected by the Americans and championed by Insta-Pro Inc. by which a simple machine called Extruder would optimally process{cook} the soya beans into full fat soya cake and thereafter if desired, the hot full fat cake is passed in a continuous process through another simple machine called Expresser or Expeller for the oil to be extracted thereby leaving you with the less fat soya cake which can be pulverized/hammer milled into smaller particles called soyameal.The full fat soya cake is rich with oil, protein and other nutients suitable for accelerated growth and fattening of livestock particularly poultry{broilers}, the miracle of a day old chick maturing to 2.5kg table chicken in a matter of four weeks, and the less fat soya meal is suitable for egg laying chicken that makes them drop large eggs on daily bases. Soya beans is surely the miracle seeds. We as consultants can package you for the establishment of a small scale soya beans processing plant that can do 20 metric tons soya beans in 24 hour. The total project cost is about N6 million if you have accommodation. Your profit margin is the region of N10,000 per metric ton processed. Call us on +2348181926534, +2348037788438, +2348028606026 or email ozorprice1@yahoo.com for detailed discussion. Attached is the Table of Content of a Bankable Business Plan for The Soya beans Project. Thanks and God bless. Ozor Godwin Esq.