Firm to use cassava for brewing alcohol

 SOUTH Pacific Brewery is to start cassava farming to use the crop for its beer production.

An agreement was signed by the Department of Agriculture and Livestock to begin the project.

The partnership will see the Department of Agriculture and Livestock releasing 20 hectares of land in Erap, Huon Gulf district, Morobe, to the brewery. 

Dr Keith Galgal, the cassava starch project consultant for SP Brewery, said the land would be used to farm a variety of cassava.

Currently, the company uses imported starch to make beer.

Minister for Agriculture and Livestock Tommy Tomscoll has shown his support for the project.

“I have agreed to support this project because the demand and the market are in Papua New Guinea,” he said.

“There is the possibility of locals becoming growers. Projects that involve our local people are good. I want to see this kind of project being integrated with agriculture.”