Ministry undertakes cassava project to fight poverty
Accra, July 30, Ghanadot/GNA
– The Ministry of Environment, Science and Technology in
collaboration with stakeholders is to undertake a National
Cassava Project to fight poverty, Ms Sherry Ayittey, sector
Minister said on Thursday.
She said; “The ministry in conjunction with the Ministry of
Agriculture and the Centre for Scientific and Industrial
Research (CSIR), is designing a programme that will help
fight poverty and create employment nationwide”.
Ms Ayittey said this during an interaction with officials of
CSIR when visited the Root and Tuber Products Development
Unit (RTPDU) of CSIR at Pokuase, a suburb of Accra, to
familiarize herself with its operations.
She said as part of the project, a cassava processing centre
would be established in all the 170 districts to boost
agriculture production and reduce importation of flour.
She said cassava was chosen for the project due to the
plant’s ability to resist drought and the numerous benefits
derived such as cassava flour, industrial alcohol, glucose,
gari and cassava dough.
Mr Nanam Tay Dziedzoave, Head of RTPDU who took the minister
round, said the major challenge of the unit was finance and
lack of modern logistics.
He said the unit, established about 18 years ago, produced
different kinds of food products from cassava including
cassava dough, gari, starch and kokonte.
Nii Ofie Nkantabisa III, Pokuase Chief, appealed to the
government to help stop a contractor from destroying the Gua
Koo (Forest).
He said the plants in the sacred forest served as medicine
and had been the source of spiritual, cultural and social
inspiration to the Pokuase Community.
Nii Nkantabisa said the only stream which served as a source
of water for the area had also been polluted.
GNA
