Agriculture is the first business of mankind which is inevitable and is the prime source of income and food for most people in Africa; aside these most pharmaceutical companies also solely depend on cassava or cassava starch to produce medicine and other necessary products. Many individuals in sub-Saharan Africa do not really know much about the essence of cassava and how profitable it is to both their individual lives and their country.
Most countries put more effort, resources, and research into maize and rice because of the notion that these two crops add up more to the growth of the nation’s economy due to the imports and exports aspects related to it, but research has shown that cassava adds up to about 45% of the nation’s wealth and growth. Cassava in its own ways provides countless opportunities for the country
In recent times cassava in its own way has taken over as the new cash crop in Africa and has gained over 35% of attention than most crops like that of wheat, maize and rice, Africans now produce or plant over 140 million metric tons cassava by the year 2011 which services as a source of livelihood about 300 million people in sub-Saharan Africa. Ghana is the third-largest country in Africa that produces cassava and the sixth in the world, they produce over 21.8 million tons of which 20% goes into food consumption, 11%into processed indigenous products like gari cassava dough, and many more, Ghana only focuses on the raw aspect of the cassava and hardly even regard the farmers who plant and harvest these crops and this is a major issue for the country.
Cassava starch in this 21st century is the new cash crop for most countries like Thailand and Nigeria who are the first and second producers of cassava respectively, Thailand as a country makes over USD 3billion from the cassava they harvest and process into starch, and this is one of the fastest and easy resource funds for the country which is also saving the people from unemployment and create other opportunities as well.
Cassava starch is used in over 200 industries in the world ranging from the pharmaceutical, paints, textiles, cosmetics and food industries and it is also very suitable for all industries as compared to that of potatoes, wheat, yam and rice. China as a country won’t be left out as they are also one of the countries that require about 9 million tons of cassava yearly for industrial works but export very little out of the 9million, but for Ghana by the year 2020 imported about $8400 of the cassava starch into the country whereas they are the sixth-largest country producing cassava, this is bad for Ghana as a country hence the government has to put in place measures for cassava processing factories to help cut down the cost of importation, and unemployment and also save the economy.
This is where TIAST Group comes in to help save the economy of Ghana with the aid of their special project for cassava starch which deals with
- Training Ghanaians to install, maintain and run the factory
- Providing technological supports
- Setting up a fully automated processing factory for cassava starch
- Providing offtake services to the intentional market
The local markets are not doing enough to the cassava starch and most of the citizens have less or little knowledge about the importance of cassava starch some do not even know that cassava can be processed into starch, cassava today is the new cash crop saving most countries from the crisis hence must be taken seriously and must be well invested into with the aid if industrialization. It is very advisable to take a chance on this great opportunity.
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