Proposed casava-processing plant to help brewery make our beer

By LARRY ANDREW
A K3 million cassava-processing plant to make starch for beer brewing will be built at Erap in the Markham Valley of Morobe.
SP Brewery managing director Stan Joyce, Department of Agriculture and Livestock regional director for Momase Nelson Bomo and deputy Morobe governor Waka Daimon planted trees in a groundbreaking ceremony at the project site last Friday.
Joyce said the brewery had been working on the project for the past five years.
It wanted to develop the right species of cassava that could be used in starch syrup.
The starch syrup would then be used to make beer.
Five varieties of cassava had been selected on the basis of yield.
“Obviously, the more yield you get the more economically-visible the project is,” Joyce said.
“We have done all the work over the last five years.
“We’re ready to build a plant here which will process cassava seedlings which we develop and give to people to grow.”
Joyce said the establishment of the plant would see it replacing up to 10 per cent of malt that was currently imported to use in the beers.
It will result in significant savings in foreign exchange for the country.
“More importantly, it will be the catalyst for what will eventually become a multi-million dollar industry for Papua New Guineans to grow cassava for downstream processing,” Joyce said. “I think that is the exciting bit about it.
“I thank the O’Neill Government for the support given thus far, and particularly the department of agriculture through the secretary and various ministers that we have worked with.
“I think the commercialisation of cassava in PNG has unlimited boundaries of wealth that
can be generated to the families here.
“I think, after we perfect here, I’ll be very happy to talk to the other areas in the country that want to do it.
“Cassava is one of the unlocked assets PNG has.”