The government of Ghana as part of measures aimed at improving the agriculture sector will focus on the importance of the cassava value chain.
Ghana exports cassava and the need to add value on the product has generated a lot of debate due to its potential to impact the livelihoods of rural people, as well as industrialization.
“Currently, government is considering a policy for high quality cassava flour for use in the food industry,” Minister of Agriculture Mr. Fiifi Fiavi Kwetey said.
He continued that “Government will continue to work with our local and international partners in addressing the challenges facing the cassava value chain”.
Mr. Kwetey was addressing about 150 participants at the opening of a three-day international conference and exhibition on cassava utilization and marketing, which opened in Accra.
The conference was organized by the Ghana Cassava Centre of Excellence (GCCE) in collaboration with the ministries of Food and Agriculture and Trade and Industry, on the theme: “Cassava: An Economic Transformational Tool for Food Security and Poverty Alleviation”.
Countries such as Nigeria, Brazil and Thailand have developed the cassava value chain, which has impacted positively on the livelihood of the small-holder farmers and transformed their lives.
Ghana currently is the third leading cassava producer in Africa and the sixth in the world.
Cassava, which had in the past not received a lot of attention, now holds the potential for transforming Ghana’s economy.
More than 45 per cent of cassava in Ghana go to waste due to post harvest losses.
If properly managed, the crop could be a major foreign earner for the country.
The Executive Director of the Ghana Cassava Centre of Excellence Mr William Agyei, said the pharmaceutical industry could have cheaply buy ethanol and starch from the country if the value chain was enhanced.
