From Samuel Agbewode, Ho
The President of the Volta Regional House of Chiefs and Agbogbomefia of the Asogli Traditional Area, Togbe Afede Asor XIV, has called on Ghanaians to consider the decision of Accra Brewery Limited (ABL) to use cassava as a major ingredient in the manufacturing of beer, as a golden opportunity to create wealth for themselves.
Togbe Afede noted that most farmers who cultivate the local crop had not achieved much over the years, because there was no available market for their produce, and that the introduction of cassava by ABL in the production of a new beer, should be seen as a new way of increasing their income levels.
Speaking at the launch of the cassava beer in the Volta regional capital, Ho, the traditional ruler noted that the era where Ghanaian farmers produced cassava in a large quantities, only for most of the crops to be left on the farm to rot away, would be a thing of the past, though the new technology posed a serious challenge to the farmers to live up to the task ahead.
Togbe Afede urged cassava farmers particularly, to put in more efforts to increase their yield to meet the demands of the ABL, adding that the launch of the new beer ought to be regarded as a new investment area for them to turn idle farmlands into cassava farms.
He commended the government for creating an enabling environment suitable for business activities, particularly, at the local level, explaining that the local cassava being used to manufacture beer, would not only reduce costs involved in the importation of foreign materials for the production of beer by ABL, but also serve as a major employment avenue for thousands of farmers.
Togbe Afede continued that the advantage of the use of the local cassava for the production of beer was that it would lead to a drastic price reduction in the drink for the people, adding that it was important for farmers to take advantage of the ABL’s mobile processing vehicle of cassava on the farm, to produce more to help improve upon their lives.
The Managing Director of ABL, Mr. Gregory Metcalf, said the company had developed a similar technology of using cassava elsewhere in Africa, and that the use of cassava in the preparation of beer in Ghana would not have any effect on the quality of the product, because it would meet the same international standard.
He explained that Volta and Eastern regions were areas where the company had been collecting its materials for the production of the new beer, and assured the public of a stable price as one of the advantages of using local material in manufacturing, adding that it was important for all to patronise the new product for the benefit of all.