By Florence Afriyie Mensah
Tuobodom (BE/R), Aug. 8, GNA – The Ghana Cassava Centre of Excellence (GCCE) has signed an agreement with the Techiman North District Assembly in the Bono-East Region to train cassava processors on testing, inspection, metrology and certification to ensure higher production standards.
Mr William Agyei-Manu, the Executive Director of the GCCE, speaking to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) after the brief ceremony, said the Bono-East Region was the fifth leading producer of cassava in Ghana with the Techiman North District being the lead in “gari” processing.
The forest-Savannah transition and the forest agro-ecological zones, consisting Eastern, Brong-Ahafo, Ashanti, Central, and Volta regions are the major cassava producing areas, contributing about 86 per cent of the total national production.
Mr Agyei-Manu said the major producing communities in the cassava value chain had been supported to ensure higher production standards.
The GCCE would generate standard operating procedures or code of practice for gari, flour and other processed cassava products to assist the processors to maintain quality standards and upgrade their products to access the international markets, he said.
Per the agreement, cassava processors in the district would be educated on national quality policy and a state-of-the-art waste management plant would be developed to serve as an additional revenue stream to the “gari’ cluster.
The GCCE and the Assembly would initiate a robust raw material supply chain for the cassava processors and conduct joint multiplication demonstration farms to guarantee all year-round fresh cassava for processing.
Mr Everson Addo-Donkor, the Techiman North District Chief Executive, said the Assembly would support the formation of cassava producers and processors cooperatives and collaborate with the private sector to invest in the cassava industry to make it attractive and lucrative.
GNA