Cassava News 80

New centres raise cassava’s outlook in Sierra Leone

Cassavanews to follow up afrol News, 17 December - Cassava’s profile as a food security and poverty-reducing crop has received a boost with the commissioning of five new processing centres in Sierra Leone. This follows support from the Common Fund for Commodities, International Institute of Tropical Agriculture and Sierra Leone Agricultural Research Institute and other partners.

The processing centres, which are located in five different communities including Waterloo, Bo District, Njala Agricultural Research Centre (NARC), Makeni City/Teko, and Hamdalai in Sierra Leone, are part of a $1.6 million Common Fund for Commodities (CFC) funded project involving Nigeria, Sierra Leone and Benin Republic. The project is seeking value addition to cassava and to consequently boost production and generate wealth.

“It will also improve livelihood, incomes of farmers and stakeholders in the cassava enterprise,” said Prof Lateef Sanni, Project Coordinator, for the Common Fund for Commodities Funded project. “More importantly, this will create market and drive the production of cassava.”

Since 1990, cassava production in Sierra Leone has been on the upbeat climbing from 178,200 metric tons in 1990 to 1,236,852 mt in 2007.

Dr Alfred Dixon, Director General, Sierra Leone Agricultural Research Institute said the utilisation of cassava and creation of products such as gari - a Nigerian-introduced staple - has actually created demand for the crop. Consequently, cassava is now second to rice as a staple with people eating both the leaves and tubers of the crop.

The establishment of the processing centres has also spurred interest in cassava production in local communities. Dorris Kargbo, a farmer and beneficiary of the cassava centre in Hamdalai Village said, in her community alone, about 40 farmer-groups have been formed for cassava production.

Each of the groups comprises about 30 farmers each. The groups will ensure the steady supply of cassava tubers to the processing centre which will process the tubers into gari, foofoo, cassava cake and cassava doughnut among others. “This will create jobs to our people, generate wealth and reduce poverty. It is our own strategy of contributing to poverty reduction in Sierra Leone,” Ms Kargbo said.

Traditionally, cassava tubers in Sierra Leone are harvested, boiled and eaten. The limited utilisation of cassava often times results to glut during periods of bumper harvest.

Ms Kargbo, while expressing gratitude to the funders of the project said the processing centres have created a market that will mop up cassava in the future. “This will reduce postharvest losses and make cassava production profitable,” she added.

By staff writer

© afrol News

Cassava News 79

Food prices up again

CASSAVANEWS to follow up FAO. ROME, Italy, Dec 9 - Global food prices are on the ascent again with the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) Food Price Index – a food basket composed of cereals, oilseeds, dairy, meat and sugar – registering four straight monthly rises.

However market conditions are different from those that triggered the food price crisis that started two years ago, FAO said in its December Food Outlook report published on Wednesday.

The index averaged 168 points in November, the highest since September 2008. That was still 21 percent below its peak in June 2008. Prior to the price spike of 2007/08, the index never exceeded 120 points and, for most of the time, was below 100 points.

“At the onset of the price surge in 2007, FAO identified a number of possible causes contributing to the price rise: low levels of world cereal stocks; crop failures in major exporting countries; rapidly growing demand for agricultural commodities for biofuels and rising oil prices,” the FAO report said.

“As the price strengthening accelerated, several other factors emerged to reinforce the upheaval; most importantly, government export restrictions, a weakening United States dollar and a growing appetite by speculators and index funds for wider commodity portfolio investments on the back of enormous global excess liquidity. What made the 2007/08 price spike exceptional was the concurrence of so many factors culminating in an unprecedented price rally and the fuelling of volatility.”

Cereal stocks healthy
Today, world cereal stocks are at more comfortable levels, although some markets are facing tight conditions. In general supplies held by exporters are more adequate to respond to rising demand than they were during the price surge period. For example, the wheat stocks-to-use ratio in major exporting countries has risen from 12 percent to 20 percent this season. Biofuels are still a leading driver but the sector has slowed in terms of year-on-year growth.

Macro-economic factors, such as exchange rates, volatile oil prices and low interest rates are also causing investors to put their cash in commodity markets. “Although supply and demand fundamentals will continue to shape commodity markets, the now entrenched susceptibility of the global food system to external non-food economy events requires continuous vigilance,” FAO said.

Production rising

“A healthy stock situation and good production prospects reduce the risk of a major price surge over the next six months, but FAO will be keeping a very close eye on developments,” said Hafez Ghanem, FAO Assistant Director-General for Social and Economic Development.

Although the preliminary outlook for cereals points to a decline in world output compared to 2008, mostly on account of lower price expectations which depressed plantings, production in 2009 is still expected to be about four percent higher than in 2007.

Global cassava production is expected to reach new highs in 2009, largely due to initiatives to sustain food security and demand from the ethanol sector where cassava has emerged as a key feedstock. However prices of internationally traded cassava are still less than they were two years ago but should remain firm in 2010.

In the oil seeds market, a weakening in prices for meals and cakes is possible later in the season because of expected large South America crop but the market is expected to be tighter in oils and fats. World sugar prices are likely to remain firm but at lower levels than the current highs.

Meat down, dairy and fish up

According to the FAO meat price index, world meat prices were an average 8 percent lower in the first ten months of 2009 than the same period last year. Lower global imports are expected to depress world trade in all various meat categories in 2009 but a modest recovery is expected in 2010.

Dairy prices are on the rise again, gaining by 80 percent since reaching a low in February 2009, with traded milk powders the fastest rising product. Future prices will depend on whether the European Union offloads its large stocks of butter and skimmed milk onto the international market.

2009 was a challenging year for fish and fishery products because of the global downturn that hit demand. There have been moderate price increases for several months now.

Read more: http://www.capitalfm.co.ke/business/Kenyabusiness/Food-prices-up-again-3502.html#ixzz0ZKJYJR1L
Under Creative Commons License: Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives

Cassava News 78

CASSAVANEWS to follow up Bharatbook.com added a new report on "Future of starches in China" which gives Competitiveness of Chinese starch and fermentation products in domestic and export markets, and impact of raw material supply on starch industry.

Future of starches in China

China’s output of starch, including native and modified starch, is the second largest in the world. Major varieties of native starch include corn starch, potato starch, cassava starch and wheat starch, while that of modified starch include corn modified starch, potato modified starch and cassava modified starch. China’s starch output has kept growing rapidly with CAGR of about 17.00% since 2001, which reached 17.10 million tonnes in 2008. It is predicted that China’s starch output will increase stably to 25.47 million tonnes in 2020. What is the position of Chinese starch industry in the world? Why do Chinese starch industry develop so fast? Which products will witness promising prospect in the future? ( http://www.bharatbook.com/detail.asp?id=127263&rt=Future-of-starches-in-China.html )

China is the second largest native starch consumption country in the world, with total consumption value of USD6.10 billion in 2008, of which USD700.00 million was contributed by modified starch consumption. With various characteristics and functions, modified starch is widely applied in industries such as papermaking, food processing and textile in China. As for price, China’s starch price is mainly influenced by raw material price, supply & demand situation and technology innovation. How are such factors affecting China’s starch industry? You will find answers in the report. Raw material cost constitutes the major proportion in starch manufacturing cost. In China, production cost of cassava starch is lower than that of corn starch, with USD333.16/t and respectively. However, native cassava starch only accounts for 3.13% share in domestic native starch market. In the USD340.34/t for corn starch, the cost of corn was USD308.01/t, accounting for 90.56% of the total cost, what cause this situation?

In recent two years, Chinese starch supply has surpassed domestic demand. As for international trade, export of native starch is increasing, while import is decreasing. But the situation is different for modified starches. Which kinds of native starch and modified starch have sufficient supply and which kinds are in demand? Starch production technology mainly includes dry method and wet method, and wet method is widely adopted in recent years. However, it causes serious pollution like large volume of waste water. Has any technology innovation achieved in recent years?

What’s covered in this report

- An overview for current market of corn starch, cassava starch, potato starch and wheat starch, as well as starch derivatives in China, with focus on statistics of capacity, output, import & export, supply & demand, major manufactures, future trend, etc.
- Outlook for starch raw material supply & demand
- Balance in starch industry, from raw materials to end use markets/products
- Competitiveness of Chinese starch and fermentation products in domestic and export markets, and impact of raw material supply on starch industry
- Foreign investment in China’s starch industry
- Future development trend of China’s starch industry

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