Some of the dignitaries that graced the Agricultural Industrialisation Conference in Kumasi
“CASSAVA STARCH industry alone is worth over 30 billion dollars in China, and China alone imports about 3 million tons every year.
“The demand for cassava starch has exceeded its supply and Ghana can benefit by producing for this market,” Irene Sackey noted.
Irene Sackey, who is the Business Development Executive, Tiast Group, has therefore urged the country to start processing cassava for export.
She was speaking during an Agricultural Industrialisation Conference, held at the Golden Tulip City Hotel in Kumasi, in the Ashanti Region.
According to her, starch is used in more than 2,000 industries for paper, clothes, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals and many more, so the sector is lucrative.
In this regard, Irene Sackey stated that the country stands a bigger chance of attracting huge foreign exchange from processed cassava.
According to her, the current practice whereby cassava is just seen as a food crop was not helping the country to attract more foreign exchange.
Tiast Group, a service provider in the agricultural value chain, has realised Ghana is not adding value to its cassava so it is losing huge money.
To help address the anomaly, Tiast Group has started a special project for Cassava Starch Processing Factory for farmers across the country.
The project seeks to add more value to agriculture through agricultural industrialisation to boost the financial status of farmers and the state.
Tiast Group would provide technical services, including the design, manufacture, installation and maintenance of agricultural processing machinery for various crops.
Also, Tiast Group would be providing financial support through Stanbic Bank, off-take services and training in the processing industry.
Continuing, Irene Sackey said Tiast Group would also provide available and ready market for starch produced by factories, owned by the farmers.
Tiast Group believes their special project, which would help local farmers to own cassava processing factories, is ground-breaking for agricultural industrialisation sector in Ghana.
FROM I.F. Joe Awuah Jnr., Kumasi