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Revisiting Cassava as Industrial Crop with One District One Factory – Using DADTCO Experience
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Increasingly and undoubtedly, cassava is becoming one of the major crops that is fast turning into cash crop in Ghana. This was spearheaded under Kuffour administration, specifically under the auspices Alan Kyeremanten, the then Minister of Trade and Industries in 2001. It was considered as one of the pillars of Presidential Special Initiatives which led to the establishment of Ayensu Starch Company in Bawjiase of Central region. The crop again gained prominence as industrial crop when the 2 breweries (Accra Brewery Ltd and Guinness Ghana Brewery Ltd) started using cassava as part of beer production.
According to a study by IDH in partnership with Grow Africa in 2015, by the year 2020, “the total latent demand for cassava derivatives for industrial uses is estimated to be 1.6 million tons per year accounting for both domestic demand from Ghanaian industries (80% of latent demand) and regional demand from other ECOWAS countries (20%)”. The largest opportunity for cassava industrialization in Ghana is ethanol for domestic consumption, followed by food-grade starch for export to regional markets and high-quality cassava flour (HQCF) for the domestic market. Meeting the addressable demand for industrial uses of cassava can have enormous economic and social impact, with an estimated $20 million worth of cassava being supplied annually for industrial use. The issue of a growing market for the crop as an industrial crop is therefore guaranteed.
Other uses or market for the crop are the pharmaceuticals industry, pastries and biscuit industry, plywood, carton and textile industries. Some of the specific products with cassava component are mosquito coils, egg trays, candles, noodles, magi cubes, corn flakes, tomato paste, toffees, animal feeds, organic fertilizer, etc. In short the crop has a very wide use. Thailand earned USD2.8 billion from cassava products in 2014 and since 2010 have had annual growth rate of 16%. It was recently reported in Gold Street Business Newspaper (30 Jan., 2017) that a Chinese firm will soon invest US$1 billion in cassava in Tanzania, a country with annual production of 5.5 million tons vis a vis Ghana with 16.5 million tons.
It is a crop widely cultivated in 8 out of the 10 regions of Ghana, cost of production is very low, 90% of small holder farmers plant it and about 70% of our women are involved in growing the crop. It constitutes 22% of our GDP.
There have been a lot of literature and research on cassava. Currently there are about 18 varieties suitable for garri, fufu, industrial starch and cassava flour. The ministries, development partners and NGOs have contributed a lot in making the crop as valuable as it is today. Luckily it has good climatic resistant to the climatic changes. Arguably there is over 35% annual surplus of the crop left underground.
In a nutshell Ghana has both comparative and competitive advantages to produce, process, consume and export cassava products to our neighboring countries and to Europe as well. Recently the EU banned processing of potatoes into flours which cassava can serve as alternative.
Despite the above advantages there are bottlenecks which can hinder the growth of the cassava industry. These are mainly supply and value chain activities, as well as lack of government enabling framework and support.
The NPP in its 2016 manifesto has categorically mentioned cassava as one of the crops to revolutionize the agricultural sector and eager to remove or minimize the bottlenecks for industrial uses of the crop. In chapter 4 of NPP manifesto titled, “Agriculture and Rural Development”, amongst other factors, it is stated that the NPP government will embark on cassava large scale farming for commercial and industrial purposes. Sections on processing, storage and guaranteed market more especially through National School Feeding Programme will ensure most of the value chain problems being minimized.
Nonetheless, these nice ideas or proposals cannot be implemented wholly by the government. It is therefore reassuring that in its investiture speech the president reiterated his desire as party and government policy that they will use the private sector to develop the economy and for that matter engage the private sector to develop the cassava industry together.
It is in the above light that DADTCO Cassava Processing Ghana Ltd(DCPG) comes in as one of the 3 leading cassava processing firms in the country to help change the landscape of the cassava industry.
DADTCO Cassava Processing Ghana Ltd. (DCPG) was incorporated in 2012 by Dutch Agricultural Development & Trading Company BV (DADTCO) from the Netherlands. DADTCO focuses its activities on Africa where it is building inclusive cassava value chains, using its unique processing technology, sustainably linking thousands of smallholder farmers to the market. DADTCO aims to contribute to the development of the smallholder cassava growers, through the sustainable commercialisation of this most abundant crop, and has ambitions of becoming the largest cassava processor on the African continent.
The main hurdle in the transition from subsistence to market-oriented growing of cassava in Africa concerns the sourcing of cassava roots. To avoid increasingly high starch losses, cassava roots must be processed preferably within 24 hours (max. 48 hours) after harvesting. High transportation costs (roots contain 70% water) and poor road networks in the rural areas make sourcing cassava from smallholders logistically and economically challenging. As a consequence, the majority of Africa’s industrial cassava processing facilities operates at below 10% of their capacity. Therefore, linking farmers to markets is the key challenge to unlock the potential of cassava.
In response to the supply chain challenge, DADTCO developed the Autonomous Mobile Processing Unit (AMPU) as an innovative mobile solution to process roots in the cassava sourcing areas within close range of the growers. The output of the AMPU is an intermediate semi wet cassava paste called High-Quality Cassava Cake (HQCC), which has a long-shelf life and reduced water content. HQCC can be used as raw material by the Food & Beverage industry. DADTCO’s AMPUs today are installed in Nigeria, Mozambique and Ghana.
DCPG operated an AMPU between 2012 and 2014 in the Volta Region to supply cassava cake to Accra Breweries Limited (ABL) – a SABMiller subsidiary
Development of the Mobile Refinery Unit (MRU) and the Mobile Drying Unit (MDU), which can be added to the AMPU, to produce Cassava Starch Flour. Cassava Starch Flour is highly refined, is whiter of colour, has a much higher starch content and, therefore, will be more readily accepted by the food industry and bakery sector than High-Quality Cassava Flour (HQCF). “Bringing the factory to the farmers” translates in tremendous savings and increased security of supply. Cassava Starch Flour represents less than a quarter of the roots volume and can be stored for over a year.
Development of an enzymatic treatment process that guarantees complete removal any residual cyanide from the product, as required by the food & beverage industry.
Based on these latest breakthrough developments, DADTCO is now able to produce food-grade Cassava Starch Flour in the root sourcing areas. A single mobile processing plant, rotating between three areas to source roots from some 4,500 smallholder farmers, can produce up to 20 tons of Cassava Starch Flour per day, i.e. roughly 6,000 tons per year. This new proposition is very persuasive for Ghana.
The expected results are: – Mobile Starch Plant is processing 5 metric tons of cassava roots per hour and rotating between 3 root sourcing areas – 4500 smallholder cassava growers are included in the value chain – cassava yields of included growers have increased by 50% – annual production of 5,000 tons of food safe (HACCP or equivalent) certified Cassava Starch Flour – 500 bakeries include Cassava Starch Flour in bread making – at least one industry uses Cassava Starch Flour as food & beverage ingredient – roll-out plan for replication in other parts of Ghana.
In conclusion, Dadtco is ready as a private sector to hit the road running and make the NPP’s one district one policy for cassava a reality within 5 months, impact on the smallholder farmers, turnaround and contribute immensely in the cassava revolution in Ghana as witnessed in Vietnam, Brazil and Thailand. The factory on wheels move to the farmer and in this case the various districts to contribute to the rural economy.
The writer is Dadtco Ghana representative. He is Agro-Investment Consultant, Supply and Value chain expert on cassava. He has extensive experience and knowledge in cassava production, processing and marketing.
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