New cassava products launched

By Severious Kale Dery

THE Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry, Mr Peter Pepera last Friday launched a variety of new soya fortified cassava products, as part of activities at the on-going Grand Sales '99. in Accra

The products, produced by the Global farmers' Wives Association (GFWA) include new soya fortified Tapioca, gari, cassava flour for pastries and fufu flour and starch.The products can be used to prepare different kinds of food such as cassava pizza, spring rolls, dough nuts, and fufu.

Launching the products, Mr Pepera underscored the uniqueness of cassava as a crop that is eaten by most people in the country in different forms of banku, fufu, gari and konkonte.

He said the crop is of direct benefit to rural women as they are the ones who traditionally produce, process and market cassava.

The deputy minister said the production and processing through improved varieties and processing technologies have the potential of enhancing the quality of life of rural women and their children.

To enhance the production of cassava, he said, it is paramount that its cheap production should not be compromised by fanciful expensive technologies.

"This therefore calls for technological innovations that would meet the apparent increases in cassava production in order to arrest its high post-harvest losses", he added.He said potentials exist for the development and processing of cassava into products such as the products that were launched as well as chips for export, industrial starch and animal feed.

He said this makes it imperative for Ghanaian farmers to position themselves to take full advantage of the opportunities the cassava industry offers both internally and externally.Giving a background to GFWA, Mr Victor Ato, Vice-President of the association, said GFWA which is an off shot of the umbrella organisation known as Global Non-Traditional Export Producers Association (GNTEPA) is aimed at fighting poverty, malnourishment of peasant farmers. He expressed the hope that the new technology will improve the living standard of the people particularly the peasant farmers.

Mr Ato said since five years of its exisitence, the association is currently in five regions, particularly where the crop is mainly grown.

The Executive Secretary of the association Mrs Elsie Augustt Klinogo, appealed to financial institutions to assist the association to go into exporting its products.