Cassava demand surges
By Roberto C. Dejon
ORMOC CITY, Leyte – The country has imported cassava starch worth US$15.60 million in 2008, says a top official of Philippine Starch Corporation.
Cris Diaz, Vice President for Agri-operations of the Philippine Starch Corporation disclosed that a data from the Philippine Cassava Starch Millers Association indicated that in 2008 alone, the Philippines imported a total of 40,068 MT of cassava starch, valued at US$15.60 million from Thailand and Vietnam.
He said, “This was an opportunity lost for the Philippines because this volume can in fact be produced locally by having more farmers engaged in cassava production, especially in Mindanao and Visayas where most of the underutilized mills are located.”
During the three days meeting of the Tapioca Producers and Processors Association of the Philippines last Nov. 11-13, Diaz added cassava crop has long been introduced to the Philippines and there has never been a surge in production due to inadequate support by the national government to the industry.
“We have no ample financing support from private and/or government banks. While we have a number of starch mills in the country, these mills have to extend direct credits to farmers for cassava production to survive,” Diaz said.
He said that if these mills do not finance the farmers, it will not have enough raw materials for their operation.
Like starch derived from potatoes, corn, wheat, sorghum and rice, cassava starch has a wide variety of uses for food industry. It can be prepared into cooked starched foods as in noodles, custard sago and snacks foods. Thickener for gravies, cream sauces and puddings, processed into monosodium glutamate, filler for contributing to the solid content of soups, pills and tablets, stabilizers in ice cream and binder to consolidate processed food mass to prevent it from drying-out, and as raw material for glucose production.
Diaz continued that while Thailand and Vietnam farmers are reaping the fruits of their continued research and development to improve its cassava varieties and increase its yield, the Philippines, inspite of its aggressive R & D our Department of Agriculture could not translate it to farmer’s benefit due to lack of budgetary funds needed in the extension works.
He said that in Bohol, where Philstarch is located, they have 4,250 farmers, involved in cassava farming, covering an area of 3,600 has. and by 2010, we can have almost 6,000 farmers involved when we reached 5,000 has. projected areas to be cultivated. The company will buy cassava products for P1.70-P2.40.
Red Galura of Ginebra San Miguel, the largest manufacturer of Alcohol in the Philippines said, it has 6 Bottling Plants all over Philippines and 1 Distillery Plant in Bago City, Negros Occ.
GSMI produces Beverage Alcohol from Molasses and Cassava (New Plant) and their flagship brand is GSM Red “Bilog.”
Galura said that GSMI started operating cassava starch mill plant in the 3rd Quarter this year, and GSMI needs 4,000 MT Dried Cassava Chips per month or equivalent to 4,000 has. of cassava plantation to support this plant.
He added, GSMI has a P250 million fresh tuber cassava processing plant on standby. This can be activated as soon as sufficient fresh roots supply in the Negros Island is available and sustainable since this cassava plant will need a monthly supply of 10,000 MT of fresh tubers. In the meantime, Galura said only the dried cassava chip is operational.
Galura disclosed that GSMI guarantees to buy all the cassava produce at an agreed “floor price” and specifications. Floor Price, is the lowest guaranteed buying price and currently it is set at P6.00 (pick-up, dried, bagged) per kilo.
Eastern Petroleum Vice President Fernando Martinez said that their company would like to contribute to the reduction of fossil fuel dependence of our country by producing its own ‘renewable oil well.’
They also want to help fight against global warming by producing clean renewable energy and making it available to the transportation sector; which accounts for 43% of the country’s energy consumption and contribute to rural development by gathering and planting of cassava for at least 11,000 hectares in Luzon and Mindanao.
Martinez disclosed that their company has taken major steps to achieve their plans by planting in Isabela Province (2009: 260 hectares, 2010:3,000 hectares)
100 hectares in 2009 in Zambales Province and in General Santos City totaling 700 hectares (2008: 500 hectares, 2009: 200 hectares).
“And last month their company received some 20 metric tons of planting material from Agapito Pongos Jr., the Tapioca Producer and Processors Association of this city.”
Martinez continued that they are looking for finding the right farmer and partners in getting the right variety. He said that he is hoping that LGU’s would solve inadequate rural infrastructures such as roads (case of Isabela: 9kms in 1 hour) and conflicting land titles. He is hoping to manage the losses in harvesting and processing and quality control. Alsons Consolidated Resources Incorporated is putting up a biofuel plant to be located between Barangays Mambuaya and Bayanga in Cagayan de Oro City with a production capacity of 33 Million liters of bioethanol per year. The company will use 85,000 MT of cassava chips per year and the total Project cost of P2.3 billion, equipped with the latest production and pollution control technology, and including P277.8 million for agricultural activities.
Bioethanol production according to the company will serve the biofuels requirement of Mindanao and Visayas and target commercial operation by the first semester of 2012.
[...] glucosides in different parts of cassava, the tropical tuber that is a staple to millions in Africa.Cassava demand surges | THE REPORTER ONLINE – Fair, Fearless …By Roberto C. Dejon ORMOC CITY, Leyte The country has imported cassava starch worth US$15.60 million [...]
“And last month their company received some 20 metric tons of planting material from Agapito Pongos Jr., the Tapioca Producer and Processors Association of this city.”