Breadfruit is a multipurpose tree crop that is primarily used for its starchy fruit. It is the main staple crop in many areas of the Pacific and had been widely planted in other tropical regions. It generally has little commercial use but is becoming an export crop in the Caribbean.

CTI is mentoring University of St. Thomas senior engineering students as they design devices for processing breadfruit. The technology may be deployed throughout the world through CTI and its partners.

- More information on breadfruit
- Drying Breadfruit in the Marshall Islands (PDF)
- Breadfruit in Haiti (PDF)

The cassava is a woody shrub native to South America that is extensively cultivated as an annual crop in tropical and subtropical regions for its edible starchy tuberous root, a major source of carbohydrates. Cassava is the third largest source of carbohydrates for human food in the world, with Africa its largest center of production. One part of the flour made from the roots is called tapioca.

CTI grinders have been used to grind the farina portion of the cassava root into flour.  A pilot project was conducted in St. Lucia in the late 1990's.

Cowpeas (also called black-eyed peas) are one of the most important food legume crops in the semi-arid tropics covering Asia, Africa, southern Europe and Central and South America. A drought tolerant and warm weather crop, cowpeas are well-adapted to the drier regions of the tropics, where other food legumes do not perform well.

Cowpeas are grown in several countries where CTI has a presence and CTI is currently exploring ways to assist with post-harvest processing.

- CTI Grinders Produce Good Results in Mali (PDF)
- Grinders Benefit Sudan (PDF)

Also referred to as corn, maize constitutes a staple food in many regions of the world. In many cultures, corn meal is made into a thick porridge or used as a replacement for wheat flour to make cornbread and other baked products.

CTI’s program concentrated on eliminating the main reasons for degradation of the corn crop: mold, rodent infestation, animal depredation, and insect attack. These all result from problems with shelling, drying and storage of corn.

- Corn Storage in Guatemala Saves Crops (PDF)
- Grinders in Iringa, Tanzania Bring Help and Joy (PDF)
- Grinders Benefit Sudan (PDF)

Moringa is a tree found throughout the tropical regions of Asia, Africa, and South America whose leaves, known for their nutritional value, are often eaten fresh by the local people in these areas.

When the leaves of this tree are dried and crushed, their nutrient content per gram increases greatly. Three tablespoons provide almost half of the protein, over 100% of the recommended calcium, 71% of the iron, and many other essential vitamins and minerals required daily for a child to be well-nourished.

Unfortunately, an efficient method for grinding the leaf material into a shelf-stable, powdered food supplement has not been accessible to the people who need it most. CTI’s grinders have been found to be just the answer and are currently being used in Ghana.

- Wikipedia information
- President of the Moringa Association of Ghana Endorses CTI Grinder (PDF)
- Moringa Processing in Ghana (PDF)

The peanut, or groundnut (Arachis hypogaea), is a species in the legume Fabaceae native to South America, Mexico and Central America. The legume gained Western popularity when it came to the United States from Africa. It had become popular in Africa after being brought there from Brazil by the Portuguese around 1800.

The plant's name derives from a combination of the morphemes pea and nut, causing some confusion as to the nature of the fruit. In the botanical sense the fruit of the peanut plant is a woody, indehiscent legume and not a nut. The word pea describes the edible seeds of many other legumes in the Fabaceae family, and in that sense, a peanut is a kind of pea.

Although a peanut is not a nut, in the culinary arts peanuts are utilized similarly to nuts.  Peanuts are also known as earthnuts, goobers, goober peas, pindas, jack nuts, pinders, manila nuts, and monkey nuts. (The last of these is often used to mean the entire pod.)

- Amerindian Women Create Local Business (Guyana) (PDF)
- Helping Treat Malnourished Children in Haiti (PDF)
- Enhancing Peanut Butter Production in Zimbabwe (PDF)
- Bunia Children’s Hope Center (Congo) (PDF)
- CTI Grinders Produce Good Results in Mali (PDF)
- Grinders Benefit Sudan (PDF)
- Women's Enterprises in Malawi (PDF)
- Nutrition Project in Bangladesh (PDF)

Pearl millet is the most widely grown type of millet. It has been grown in Africa and the Indian subcontinent since prehistoric times. Pearl millet is well adapted to production systems characterized by drought, low soil fertility, and high temperature. It performs well in soils with high salinity or low pH.

Because of its tolerance to difficult growing conditions, it can be grown in areas where other cereal crops, such as maize or wheat, would not survive.

CTI is currently designing a system of devices to aid in the post-harvest processing of pearl millet. 

- USDA Report Processing Pearl Millet, 04/08 (PDF)
- USDA Report Processing Pearl Millet & Sorghum, 11/08 (PDF)
- CTI Pearl Millet Article (PDF)
- CTI Grinders Produce Good Results in Mali (PDF)
- Grinders Benefit Sudan (PDF)

The potato is a starchy, tuberous crop. Potato is the world's most widely grown tuber crop, and the fourth largest food crop in terms of fresh produce after rice, wheat, and corn.  The most rapid expansion of potato over the past few decades has occurred in southern and eastern Asia.

China is now the world’s largest potato producing country, and nearly a third of the world’s potatoes are harvested in China and India. More generally, the geographic shift of potato production has been away from wealthier countries toward lower-income areas of the world.

Numerous Sorghum species are used for food (as grain and in sorghum syrup or "sorghum molasses"), fodder, the production of alcoholic beverages and biofuels. Most species are drought tolerant and heat tolerant and are especially important in arid regions. They form an important component of pastures in many tropical regions. Sorghum species are an important food crop in Africa, Central America, and South Asia and are, according to the U.S. Grains Council, the fifth most important cereal crop grown in the world.

CTI devices are used to grind sorghum into flour in El Salvador and new devices are being evaluated for additional processing.

- The Case for Sorghum Flour (PDF)
- The Case for Sorghum Flour - Spanish (PDF)
- USDA Report Processing Pearl Millet & Sorghum, 11/08 (PDF)
- CTI Grinders Produce Good Results in Mali (PDF)
- Grinders Benefit Sudan (PDF)

Among the legumes, the soybean, also classed as an oilseed, is pre-eminent for its high protein content (38–45%)as well as its high oil content (20%).  Soybeans are considered by many agencies, including the US Food and Drug Administration, to be a source of complete protein.  Soybeans are most commonly used for oil and secondly for flour.

CTI is exploring alternative processes for extracting oil from soybeans.  And currently in Malawi, the CTI grinder is being used to produce soy flour.

- Women's Enterprises in Malawi (PDF)