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FM
Former Member

$26M Cassava flour factory underway in Kwebanna


 

─ to produce cassareep, starch, and other by-products

The Cassava Flour Processing Factory under construction.

The construction of a Cassava Flour Processing Factory is underway in Kwebanna Village, Moruca, Region One.

Works on the facility began in December 2018, at the cost of $10M.
The funds also catered for the clearing and preparation of 30 acres of land, and the purchasing of cassava sticks for planting.
An additional $16M was allocated this year for equipping the facility, making a total of $26M invested by the government.
The project has already created employment for several villagers who supplied most of the materials being used with jobs created for the actual construction.

Toshao of Kwebanna and Vice Chairman of the National Toshaos Council (NTC), Paul Pierre, told the Department of Public Information (DPI) that the project was initiated by the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples’ Affairs after consultations with the residents.

He said that the residents were eager to embark on such a significant venture that will generate income for the community: “Cassava is one of our main produce… We said that flour production would be a good thing for us, boost agriculture and add value to the product. We are at a point of completion. This project will not only benefit this community but the entire Moruca sub-region, Mabaruma, and even Port Kaituma, Matthews Ridge and the other areas.”

With assistance from the Ministry of Social Protection’s Co-operative Society Department, the Kwebanna Farmers’ Co-operative was established. Chairman of the Co-op, Fabian France explained that a number of studies were carried out on the sweet cassava before deciding on the project.

France said, “We never had this opportunity before, this is the very first time. In the beginning, the [Minister within the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples’ Affairs, Valerie Garrido-Lowe] came in and kept a meeting.
“She mentioned the tomato project in Region Eight and when she mentioned this cassava… I carry out a study on the sweet cassava, and it came turned out well. [Cassava flour] stays for months even without sealing.”

In addition to the over 30 farmers that will directly benefit from the project, residents will also cash in from surrounding areas including Santa Cruz, Barama and Manawarin.
Training in the processing of the cassava flour will be conducted by the Ministry of Social Protection’s Board of Industrial Training Department. The Ministry of Business will be assisting in training for the packaging.
Not only will the factory produce cassava flour for use in the region and further afield, but it will be producing cassareep, starch, and other cassava by-products.

Once completed, the community will be seeking markets through the school’s hot meal programmes and supply the three dormitories in the sub-Districts, Mabaruma, Moruca, and Matarkai.
Over the weekend, Minister Garrido-Lowe visited the construction site where works are ongoing. This project is expected to be completed within a month.

Kwebanna has a population of 900, and its main economic activities are lumber, subsistence farming, hunting, and fishing.

Replies sorted oldest to newest

Forbes Burnham and Cheddi Jagan have shown interest to produce locally and eat locally. From my experience, only Indo-Guyanese cannot adapt to eating locally and can't do without wheat flour. This has brought tremendous pressure on Forbes Burnham for banning many imported items, but not to Cheddi Jagan for having the same idea on local produce and consumption. I find this very awkward, however, this idea will come to fruition soon in the Kwebanna Village, Moruca, Region One with a population of 900 people. These people will enjoy the richness of cassava flour and you wouldn't hear them complaining about imported flour.  These are true Guyanese and I salute them.  

FM
Drugb posted:

Good for them. Only negative is that it is not for those on low carb diet. Its twice the carb of flour but gluten free. 

By extracting the starch they will reduce the carbs.

Baseman

Amazon.com sells about 30 brands of rice flour.  As long as Amazon's rice flour roti does not break in two pieces when Prashad picks it up.  Like how the Burnham rice flour roti broke into two pieces when Prashad picked it up to eat it.  Prashad is willing to eat rice flour rotis.

Prashad
Baseman posted:
Drugb posted:

Good for them. Only negative is that it is not for those on low carb diet. Its twice the carb of flour but gluten free. 

By extracting the starch they will reduce the carbs.

Then it would no longer be cassava flour but more like cassava bread, wouldn't have the same properties. 

FM
Drugb posted:
Baseman posted:
Drugb posted:

Good for them. Only negative is that it is not for those on low carb diet. Its twice the carb of flour but gluten free. 

By extracting the starch they will reduce the carbs.

Then it would no longer be cassava flour but more like cassava bread, wouldn't have the same properties. 

Don't we have many versions of Wheaten flour?  Why can't there be different versions of Cassava flour?  I believe some species of wheat are possible in the savannahs!

Baseman
Prashad posted:

Amazon.com sells about 30 brands of rice flour.  As long as Amazon's rice flour roti does not break in two pieces when Prashad picks it up.  Like how the Burnham rice flour roti broke into two pieces when Prashad picked it up to eat it.  Prashad is willing to eat rice flour rotis.

Bai Prash, the problem was not that it broke into two pieces because it was rice flour. It only broke into two or more pieces because the rice flour was made by the PNC government who have a 5 decades record of haplessness.

FM
Baseman posted:
Drugb posted:
Baseman posted:
Drugb posted:

Good for them. Only negative is that it is not for those on low carb diet. Its twice the carb of flour but gluten free. 

By extracting the starch they will reduce the carbs.

Then it would no longer be cassava flour but more like cassava bread, wouldn't have the same properties. 

Don't we have many versions of Wheaten flour?  Why can't there be different versions of Cassava flour?  I believe some species of wheat are possible in the savannahs!

Good luck with this venture anyway. They haven't even produced simple cassava flour and already you on to different versions.  The sad truth is that markets will be difficult to attain externally if their intent is to scale up. Right now their target is market is within their own communities. 

FM
Nehru posted:

They should also open back Hope Estate and enslave them

I asked u once, i'll ask u again. What was your experience at Hope Estate. Did they flog u? You always mention this place. Must have been very traumatic.

Sheik101
Prince posted:

Forbes Burnham and Cheddi Jagan have shown interest to produce locally and eat locally. From my experience, only Indo-Guyanese cannot adapt to eating locally and can't do without wheat flour. This has brought tremendous pressure on Forbes Burnham for banning many imported items, but not to Cheddi Jagan for having the same idea on local produce and consumption. I find this very awkward, however, this idea will come to fruition soon in the Kwebanna Village, Moruca, Region One with a population of 900 people. These people will enjoy the richness of cassava flour and you wouldn't hear them complaining about imported flour.  These are true Guyanese and I salute them.  

What a load of bullshit. I'm willing to bet u were one of the first to cry foul when u had to eat rice flour for the first time, so don't give the board this Patriotic crap.

I remember when me bai Nehru seh back in dem days he had to eat breadfruit curry at de jhandi, but he wuk it up tho

Sheik101
Sheik101 posted:
Nehru posted:

They should also open back Hope Estate and enslave them

I asked u once, i'll ask u again. What was your experience at Hope Estate. Did they flog u? You always mention this place. Must have been very traumatic.

Refused the order from the Puppet PS at the time.!!!

Nehru

My wife made cassava pone and I eat belly full. Yesterday she made it again and I pig out. Never did I eat so much pone at one sitting in my life. On a serious note, to each his own. I love cassava bread and cassareep and I endorse the cassava flour factory.  

FM
Last edited by Former Member
Drugb posted:
Baseman posted:
Drugb posted:
Baseman posted:
Drugb posted:

Good for them. Only negative is that it is not for those on low carb diet. Its twice the carb of flour but gluten free. 

By extracting the starch they will reduce the carbs.

Then it would no longer be cassava flour but more like cassava bread, wouldn't have the same properties. 

Don't we have many versions of Wheaten flour?  Why can't there be different versions of Cassava flour?  I believe some species of wheat are possible in the savannahs!

Good luck with this venture anyway. They haven't even produced simple cassava flour and already you on to different versions.  The sad truth is that markets will be difficult to attain externally if their intent is to scale up. Right now their target is market is within their own communities. 

Well. Good luck to them!   Which market is ever easy to attain?

Baseman
Billy Ram Balgobin posted:

What happened to the plantain chip factory?

It was moved to Linden due to free electricity and it broke down. Never to be repaired again like the PNC textile, glass and bicycle factory.

FM

PNC revised their plan to feed, clothes and house the nation by 2016 and still failed.

They can't even run a cake shop, how can they feed, clothes and house the nation by 2016 ?

PNC only talents are fete, rigging and dictators. 

FM
Last edited by Former Member
Prince posted:

$26M Cassava flour factory underway in Kwebanna


─ to produce cassareep, starch, and other by-products

The Cassava Flour Processing Factory under construction.

The construction of a Cassava Flour Processing Factory is underway in Kwebanna Village, Moruca, Region One.

Congrats and positive wishes to this project.
cain

Cassava flour is imported and used in the USA.  Some baby foods even have cassava flour blend.  

I don’t know what all the negativity is about them trying something which is done in places like Guatemala and Honduras!

People just stupid!

Baseman

De slopsters will say this is PPP propaganda.

No job opportunities as promised – Chairman

 

Cassava factory

…says workers being laid off

The $10 million Cassava Flour Processing Factory in Kwebanna Village, Moruca District, Region One (Barima-Waini) is presently being constructed. It is intended to bring multiple benefits to residents in the area, one of which is employment opportunities.

Region One Chairman Brentnol Ashley

However, residents are now complaining that persons who were employed to assist in the execution of this project have been laid off, and instead workers are being outsourced from their region.
Region One Chairman Brentnol Ashley, in a telephone interview with Guyana Times on Friday, stated that he has received numerous complaints from residents of the Moruca district about the process the Indigenous Peoples’ Affairs Ministry and the contractor identified to execute the project.
He said that residents, inclusive of Councillors in that District of Region One, have brought to his attention that there appears to be a lack of transparency in the construction process of the factory, and that there is an unavailability of job opportunities for them, contrary to what the Government had promised.
Initially, at the commencement of this multi-million-dollar project, Government had stated that employment was created for several villagers who supplied most of the materials being used, with jobs being created for actual construction.
However, according to the Regional Chairman, the complaints about the project vary, and one disturbing issue is that residents who were employed as part of the workforce for the factory’s construction are claiming that they have been fired, only to have persons from outside of the region being contracted to perform duties which they are capable of doing.
“Several residents, even Councillors of that area, have contacted me about the construction of that cassava factory, and their issues are mainly related to the residents there not benefiting from employment, workers being laid off, and of course workers being outsourced. They are saying that the engineer and contractor for the project (are) only discussing the process with two individuals, as against all of the persons who should be included. They have also raised concerns about financial transactions, payments also,” Ashley told this publication.
He added that he is expecting this issue to be resolved in a timely manner, but if need be, a visit by his office to the site would be made soon.
When the project was initiated, Government had said that works on the facility began in December 2018, at the cost of $10 million. The funds also catered for the clearing and preparation of 30 acres of land, and the purchasing of cassava sticks for planting. An additional $16 million was allocated this year for equipping the facility, making the total invested by Government $26 million.

FM

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