Thursday, March 28, 2024

Luapula cassava farmers receive boost from Zambia breweries

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A farming family in Luapula prepare cassava for sale to Zambian Breweries for use in Eagle lager

Small-scale famers in Luapula Province have received a significant boost with the launch of Zambian Breweries’ initiative to buy cassava for use in the production of its affordable Eagle lager, a move that promises to provide a reliable market for the crop.
The initiative by the brewing company to source cassava from small-scale farmers is part of its effort to support the development of the cassava value chain with a focus on the commercialisation of the crop, as well as increasing local market linkages with farmers.
Zambian Breweries has already started acquiring cassava from farmers through its agent GroAfrica and the company plans to purchase over 1,000 tonnes of cassava over the next six months. “Our dream is to bring people together for a better community and country. We believe that the sustainable growth of the business is tied in to the prosperity of our people. Once our people prospers then can our business manage to grow and register profits.’’,” said Zambian Breweries corporate affairs director Ezekiel Sekele.
The purchases of cassava come as Zambian Breweries has been evaluating plans to set up a processing plant in Mansa in an effort to secure cassava from small-scale farmers and use it in the production of Eager lager. With the prospect of a guaranteed market for the crop, farmers in the province have offered to bolster cassava production through acquiring more land for farming activities to increase cassava production for both consumption and commercial purposes.
“We have enough land, and all farmers including chiefs have been calling for a cassava market, so we are ready to give Zambian Breweries land where it can even do an outgrower scheme. In order to enhance value addition to our cassava, it would be important to establish a processing plant here in Mansa,” said Mansa District Commissioner Lloyd Mwape Chakaba.
Zambian Breweries’ Eagle lager cassava project has shown great potential to make a significant contribution to rural farming in Mansa and the purchasing of the crop has provided a market for farmers to increase their farming.
Welcoming the Zambian Breweries team to Mansa, Mayor Emmanuel Chungu said: “This is a big project, and going by the volumes that Zambian Breweries is talking about in buying cassava, it will reduce the pressure from government over maize dependence, because our people will appreciate the benefits of growing cassava.”
The Finance Minister, Honorable Felix Mutati who toured the Zambian Breweries processing plant in Ndola, in December 2016,  to inspect a new high-tech process that increases the amount of cassava in the company’s affordable Eagle Lager, was delighted with the, company’s initiative, of using cassava in the production process.
With the new state-of-the-art equipment the company hopes to increase Eagle Lager production from 50,000 hectolitres to about 200,000 hectolitres in the coming year, and plans to purchase over 12,000 metric tons of cassava root from the farmers in 2017.

5 COMMENTS

  1. Sad state of affairs, instead of turning this crop into more beneficial end product that can benefit all ages … alcohol has been given a priority. Luapula is home to malnutrition, high infant and child mortality and leave alone stuntedness as was the case with FTJ. We are witnessing trends of skyrocketing statistics of BP and DM in Africa and Zambia in particular. Aforementioned diseases are believed to be genetical , but in many cases excessive alcohol intake and sedentary life are the major causetives .Now that cassava will soon change route, luapula must be geared for severe hunger, malnutrition and mental retardation .Two decades from today, its gona be a sad story for the province. can people from there rise above alcohol.

  2. Surely can’t we produce something edible from Cassava…Zambia Breweries will not cease till everyone is an alcoholic..shameless RSA company, why don’t you send this selfsame Eagle Lager to the Zulus and Boers.
    Look at Ghana, it produces 16 metric tonnes of Cassava and of that 11 metric tonnes is for Human consumption..over the last five years there has been a steady growth in commerical and industrial use for new high value cassava products like High Quality cassava flour, Industrial Grade Cassava Flour, High Quality Cassava Chips and Wet Cake.
    The Zambian govt should be sending teams to Ghana to literally ‘copy and paste’ what they are doing there…

  3. Zambia Breweries are doing their bit they not stopping anyone else doing what they can do with cassava. If you have ideas go there, you don’t need a visa. ZB are in beer business and that’s what they know best. Besides financial benefits will encourage more people into farming and reduce poverty levels.

  4. Balumendo, sure!!! I see now that you are extremely skilled at extracting a “negative” out of any “positive” story that comes your way and making a story out of it. Why cant you see the mass production of Cassava for sale to a now ready market as a gate-way to people of Luapula to now have ready cash to enable them enhance their life-styles? ZB are not giving them booze in exchange for cassava at all. Instead, I would rather you advise the people from “Liver Pool” on how to carefully use their money to become healthy and wealthy….

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