PGR News from the Pacific

Posted 8:51 PM by Luigi

Cassava products from Africa

Two stories from AllAfrica.com describe work on cassava products:

Biscuits. A local investor will soon venture into the production of cassava biscuit in Mansa district, Zambia with production equipment worth K269 million and an initial working capital of K50 million. Mr Abraham Chikonde said he had plans of producing 360,000 packets of biscuits annually worth K1.6 billion. In an interview, Mr Chikonde, who is proprietor of Lusaka's Procpres Enterprises Limited (PECO), said cassava flour consumption was estimated at 24 tonnes valued at K48 million every year. He said the sample production of his cassava biscuit had already received an overwhelming demand on the local market.

Mr Chikonde was determined to ensure that his product penetrated the international market in future. He said with the Southern African regional initiative aimed at commercialising cassava production using modern methods, his project was assured of constant supply of quality cassava flour, a situation he said was key to continuity of production. Mr Chikonde lamented that though his company came up with a technology to produce cassava biscuits a few years ago, it could not venture into production because of poor quality of cassava flour.
Glucose syrup. The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) has announced the intention of the institute to embark upon research into the production of glucose syrup from cassava in line with the effort of the Nigerian government to improve the global market relevance of cassava. According to a report from the institute, the initiative will be a tripartite collaborative arrangement involving the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), the University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (UNAAB), and the Scientific and Equipment Development Institute (SEDI), Enugu.

The IITA report explained that the collaboration would mainly be centered on the production of some industrial products using cassava as the major raw material. "The objective is to research into small and medium scale cassava enterprises through the development of several industrial products. When fully developed, the project will create job opportunities and empower small and medium scale entrepreneurs economically to mop up possible excess cassava production in rural areas, and make Nigerian cassava production and processing more lucrative. Under the collaboration, the three organizations have successfully produced glucose syrup from locally fabricated bioreactor. The quality of the final product is close to what obtains in many advanced countries where the product is usually imported into Nigeria.

Glucose syrup and dextrose are widely used as sweetening agents in confectioneries. High maltose and high conversion syrups improve moisture retention and color control in final product. Dextrose syrup in particular improves crust and dough properties, while high fructose syrups are used in frosting and fillings. The all glass double jacketed bioreactor (5 litre capacity) was fabricated at SEDI Enugu and it has a temperature probe, impeller shaft with impeller blade at an angle of 45 degrees and a control panel. Indicator lamps were also installed to monitor the status of the heating element and motor. The compression springs were used to assemble the equipment to allow for lateral and longitudinal expansion due to heating. Charge/feed hole was provided for charging the reactor without removing the upper plate while a wooden crate was also built into it for safe handling.

Dr. Lateef Sanni, IITA Postharvest Specialist worked closely with Dr Akpan-Iyang Akpan, a Senior Lecturer at UNAAB and Mr O. O. Obiina, of SEDI to ensure the success of the project. Sanni remarked that the performance test of the reactor has been conducted at IITA Onne last December with cassava starch (10%w/v), distilled water, and enzymes as main ingredients. The extracted syrup was centrifuged and sugar level monitored using digital refractometer. The syrup was finally bleached to white colour. The yield is almost equal to production yield obtained elsewhere such as Thailand.

Based on the success of the project, IITA is planning to organize an enterprise training activity for interested investors on production of glucose syrup from cassava starch. Participants will be trained on the production of glucose syrup, equipment fabrication and maintenance, cost benefit of the glucose syrup business and other Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) information that will drive the market for continued production. Furthermore, it was disclosed that upon request, SEDI has capability of scaling up the reactor to cater for SMEs. IITA will organise the training in collaboration with other glucose syrup consultants including National Root Crops Research Institute (NRCRI), Umudike for future sustainability of the product.

Sweeteners and syrups, used to prepare soft drinks and confectionaries, are a rapidly growing market in West and Central-Africa. At the moment, all sweeteners are imported (920 MT per annum in Ghana). A prerequisite of production is a supply of cheap, high quality starch, which is available in Nigeria-Matna, Real Foods, NSM etc. Currently, there is no commercial factory in Nigeria producing glucose syrup from cassava, despite the availability of abundant raw materials in Nigeria.

* Comments:

Thanks for the interesting article on cassava. This article has been circulated to various NARI staff. PNG Gov't has signed a deal with the Bohai Company of Korea to go into ethanol production in PNG. The Cassava Ethanol Production Project has been approved by the Gov't. The project will be undertaken in two phases; Phase I will involve large scale production of cassava in PNG. The crops will be planted in large scale in PNG, harvested and shipped to Korea for ethanol production. The 2nd Phase will involve the actual setting up of the ethanol production factory in PNG. The site where the ethanol factory will be built is yet to be decided. NARI Laloki is working closing with the Committee set up for this purpose and have given our technical input in the highest yielding cassava vars we have in our national germplasm collection at Laloki. We have already supplied information on the high yielding varieties with their passport and characterization data.

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DIVA-GIS	Tuesday, February 08, 2005 Posted 8:51 PM by Luigi Cassava products from Africa Two stories from AllAfrica.com describe work on cassava products: Biscuits. A local investor will soon venture into the production of cassava biscuit in Mansa district, Zambia with production equipment worth K269 million and an initial working capital of K50 million. Mr Abraham Chikonde said he had plans of producing 360,000 packets of biscuits annually worth K1.6 billion. In an interview, Mr Chikonde, who is proprietor of Lusaka's Procpres Enterprises Limited (PECO), said cassava flour consumption was estimated at 24 tonnes valued at K48 million every year. He said the sample production of his cassava biscuit had already received an overwhelming demand on the local market. Mr Chikonde was determined to ensure that his product penetrated the international market in future. He said with the Southern African regional initiative aimed at commercialising cassava production using modern methods, his project was assured of constant supply of quality cassava flour, a situation he said was key to continuity of production. Mr Chikonde lamented that though his company came up with a technology to produce cassava biscuits a few years ago, it could not venture into production because of poor quality of cassava flour. Glucose syrup. The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) has announced the intention of the institute to embark upon research into the production of glucose syrup from cassava in line with the effort of the Nigerian government to improve the global market relevance of cassava. According to a report from the institute, the initiative will be a tripartite collaborative arrangement involving the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), the University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (UNAAB), and the Scientific and Equipment Development Institute (SEDI), Enugu. The IITA report explained that the collaboration would mainly be centered on the production of some industrial products using cassava as the major raw material. "The objective is to research into small and medium scale cassava enterprises through the development of several industrial products. When fully developed, the project will create job opportunities and empower small and medium scale entrepreneurs economically to mop up possible excess cassava production in rural areas, and make Nigerian cassava production and processing more lucrative. Under the collaboration, the three organizations have successfully produced glucose syrup from locally fabricated bioreactor. The quality of the final product is close to what obtains in many advanced countries where the product is usually imported into Nigeria. Glucose syrup and dextrose are widely used as sweetening agents in confectioneries. High maltose and high conversion syrups improve moisture retention and color control in final product. Dextrose syrup in particular improves crust and dough properties, while high fructose syrups are used in frosting and fillings. The all glass double jacketed bioreactor (5 litre capacity) was fabricated at SEDI Enugu and it has a temperature probe, impeller shaft with impeller blade at an angle of 45 degrees and a control panel. Indicator lamps were also installed to monitor the status of the heating element and motor. The compression springs were used to assemble the equipment to allow for lateral and longitudinal expansion due to heating. Charge/feed hole was provided for charging the reactor without removing the upper plate while a wooden crate was also built into it for safe handling. Dr. Lateef Sanni, IITA Postharvest Specialist worked closely with Dr Akpan-Iyang Akpan, a Senior Lecturer at UNAAB and Mr O. O. Obiina, of SEDI to ensure the success of the project. Sanni remarked that the performance test of the reactor has been conducted at IITA Onne last December with cassava starch (10%w/v), distilled water, and enzymes as main ingredients. The extracted syrup was centrifuged and sugar level monitored using digital refractometer. The syrup was finally bleached to white colour. The yield is almost equal to production yield obtained elsewhere such as Thailand. Based on the success of the project, IITA is planning to organize an enterprise training activity for interested investors on production of glucose syrup from cassava starch. Participants will be trained on the production of glucose syrup, equipment fabrication and maintenance, cost benefit of the glucose syrup business and other Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) information that will drive the market for continued production. Furthermore, it was disclosed that upon request, SEDI has capability of scaling up the reactor to cater for SMEs. IITA will organise the training in collaboration with other glucose syrup consultants including National Root Crops Research Institute (NRCRI), Umudike for future sustainability of the product. Sweeteners and syrups, used to prepare soft drinks and confectionaries, are a rapidly growing market in West and Central-Africa. At the moment, all sweeteners are imported (920 MT per annum in Ghana). A prerequisite of production is a supply of cheap, high quality starch, which is available in Nigeria-Matna, Real Foods, NSM etc. Currently, there is no commercial factory in Nigeria producing glucose syrup from cassava, despite the availability of abundant raw materials in Nigeria. * Comments: Thanks for the interesting article on cassava. This article has been circulated to various NARI staff. PNG Gov't has signed a deal with the Bohai Company of Korea to go into ethanol production in PNG. The Cassava Ethanol Production Project has been approved by the Gov't. The project will be undertaken in two phases; Phase I will involve large scale production of cassava in PNG. The crops will be planted in large scale in PNG, harvested and shipped to Korea for ethanol production. The 2nd Phase will involve the actual setting up of the ethanol production factory in PNG. The site where the ethanol factory will be built is yet to be decided. NARI Laloki is working closing with the Committee set up for this purpose and have given our technical input in the highest yielding cassava vars we have in our national germplasm collection at Laloki. We have already supplied information on the high yielding varieties with their passport and characterization data. # posted by Anonymous : 2:51 PM Post a Comment	Archive October 2002 November 2002 December 2002 January 2003 February 2003 March 2003 April 2003 May 2003 June 2003 July 2003 August 2003 September 2003 October 2003 November 2003 December 2003 January 2004 February 2004 March 2004 April 2004 May 2004 June 2004 July 2004 August 2004 September 2004 October 2004 November 2004 December 2004 January 2005 February 2005 March 2005 April 2005 May 2005 June 2005 July 2005 August 2005 September 2005 October 2005 November 2005 December 2005 January 2006 February 2006 March 2006 April 2006 May 2006 June 2006 July 2006 August 2006 September 2006 October 2006 November 2006 December 2006 January 2007 February 2007 March 2007 April 2007 May 2007 June 2007 July 2007 August 2007 September 2007 October 2007 November 2007 December 2007 January 2008 February 2008 March 2008 April 2008 May 2008 June 2008 July 2008 August 2008 September 2008 October 2008 November 2008 December 2008 January 2009 February 2009 March 2009 April 2009 May 2009 June 2009 July 2009 August 2009 September 2009 October 2009 November 2009 January 2010 RSS Feed Alternative feed Contact Tevita Something new: Agrobiodiversity Weblog: For discussions of conservation and sustainable use of the genetic resources of crops, livestock and their wild relatives. 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