01-02 Mar, 2016 - Accra, GHANA
Labadi Beach Hotel
Labadi Beach Hotel
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“Roadmap to Increase Cassava Production &
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Ghana’s cassava can be used for many commercial and industrial purposes. Although the country has about 4 million tonnes of cassava for human consumption, as much as 7 million tonnes are available for use in other value added products.
In the last 5 years, Ghana has witnessed a surge in demand for cassava based value added products such as High Quality Cassava Flour, Industrial Grade Cassava Flour, High Quality Cassava Chips, Starch and Wet Cake.
Cassava production and processing activities account for approximately one-fifth (22 percent) of Ghana’s agricultural GDP.
The crop’s commercial potential can be further leveraged with industrialization of upstream and downstream cassava value chain, particularly with better processing and drying technologies.
The short shelf-life of cassava demands efficient marketing and processing. However, poor road infrastructure in the country often leads to cassava being wasted due to delays in transporting cassava crops to processing centres as the crop is highly perishable. The Food Research Institute (FRI) has suggested that primary processing of cassava roots into high quality cassava chips or flour be done in rural areas to avoid spoilage. This also enables the use of cassava waste (peels) for animal feeds as well as produce biogas for domestic or industrial use.
High yielding varieties of cassava can also increase production from 10 to 20 or more tonnes per hectare – as research by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and other universities have shown.
Some of the new varieties of cassava has higher starch content – sometimes more than twice, from 14 percent to 30 percent.
Apart from cassava starch being used in the pharmaceuticals, breweries, bakeries and biscuit industries, cassava based ethanol production can help Ghana meet some of its 60 million litres of ethanol that it imports annually.
The Ghana Industrial Cassava Stakeholders Platform launched in December 2015 is expected to help the country accelerate the commercialization of cassava.
Kodwo Ahlijah, Chairman of Ghana Industrial Cassava Stakeholders Platform will reveal more at CMT’s 2nd Cassava World Africa Summit on 1-2 March, 2016 in Accra.
Contact Ms. Grace at grace@cmtsp.com.sg or call +65 6346 9147 for more details.
22 Feb, 2016
Accra Brewery Limited (ABL) – a subsidiary of SABMiller – inaugurated its new plant this year. Estimated at a cost of US$100million, the new plants will double the brewery’s production capacity and increase product lines.
Accra Brewery will use a number of locally raw materials that includes cassava as well as sorghum, maize and rice to produce beer.
The newly opened plant consists of two state-of-the art packaging lines, a warehouse and material storage area. Besides, the facility also comprises a waste-treatment plant, an electricity sub-station, a vehicle workshop and an office complex.
The waste-water treatment plant is fitted with yeast-digester in tune with SABMiller’s sustainability policy.
As part of the 2nd Cassava World Africa Summit taking place on 1-2 March, 2016 in Accra, Ghana, CMT has arranged a post-summit Site Visit to Accra Brewery.
Contact Ms. Grace at grace@cmtsp.com.sg or call +65 6346 9147 for more details.
22 Jan, 2016
Ghana can benefit from the rising demand for cassava chips in China. The country already supplies cassava chips to China since the two countries signed the cassava export agreement in 2013.
China currently needs 4 million metric tonnes of cassava chips or dried cassava annually. However, this demand is not fully met as there is a gap in supply of 2 million metric tonnes. The demand comes from China’s six factories that require cassava chips (konkonte) to produce alcohol-fuel. Cassava roots that contains about 80% fermentable substances is a suitable feedstock for these factories.
Apart from Ghana, Vietnam is the only country that exports cassava chips (konkonte) annually to China. However, there is still a huge cassava export gap that needs to be filled and Ghana can take advantage of it.
In Ghana, companies are targeting to export cassava chips to China. A company has undertaken several initiatives to encourage farmers to take advantage of the new market opportunities in cassava exports. Five regions in Ghana – Central, Volta, Brong Ahafo, Ashanti and Eastern have been chosen to undergo training through workshops and seminars for cassava production, processing and storage.
At 2nd Cassava World Africa on 1-2 March, 2016 in Accra learn more about Ghana’s cassava production roadmap.
For more details email Ms. Grace at grace@cmtp.com.sg or call +65 6346 9147.
16 Nov, 2015
