Fiji has the potential to tap into the billion-dollar cassava industry only if the farmers could meet the demand, says Tavioka Growers Association executive member Isikeli Tuituku.
He highlighted this during the third Talk Tavioka Symposium in Suva yesterday and also spoke about the potential of turning cassava into flour.
“To produce the same flour that we produce in this country which is about 250,000 tonnes you need a million tonnes of cassava every year that is about 13 times what we currently produce,” he said.
“We are talking about hectares of cassava.”
According to Mr Tuituku they were not asking farmers to replace their dalo or yaqona farms with cassava but to just plant more acres of it.
“We can’t plant enough tavioka with the demand that’s already overseas.
“So if we happen to get to the stage where we produce a million tonnes of tavioka, if we go from where we currently produce which is about 17,000 tonnes, sometimes it drops and you allow growth of 20 per cent year on year for 15 years you will get 20 million tonnes.
“If every farmer in Fiji particularly in Vanua Levu could commit right now to the 10 hectares of land and plant cassava today, you will harvest it by October that’s how quick it is.
“So if we have a million tonnes the farmers would get $500,000 million a year, it’s a billion-dollar industry.”
He said when cassava was turned into starch there were many uses for it within and outside of the food industry.
Mr Tuituku said there was a big difference between wheat flour and cassava flour as the latter does not have the presence of insects.
