More than just making beer (feature)

Caption 1: SP Management and NCD Governor Powes Parkop along with landowner farmers from Erap in the Morobe Province pose with the finished product of cassava beer.

 

Caption 2: Cassava (Tapioka) roots and starch powder

 

Caption 3: Cassava specialist Dr Keith Galgal

By MATTHEW VARI

Sunday, March 27, 2016 (Sunday Chronicle, PNG)

 

TOO much has been said about the once economic boom to the now precarious situation the country is now in. This has all come down to what all doomsayers and educated professionals and international experts have said long ago- even to today, that the agriculture sector will both alleviate the dependence on the mineral sector and also really put a dent on the living standards of more than 80 percent of the population that live off the land.

Forget the more traditional coffee, cocoa, and copra big boy crops- the food manufacturing sector continues to import starch based sources in high quantities from overseas. With a climate that cannot sustain other more viable plant sources for starch like wheat and barley. There is corn which is dependent on the weather, which leaves cassava (commonly known as ‘tapioka’) as a robust source of starch in the country.

Starch is one of the most abundant carbohydrates in nature and present in many food plants. Starch is by far the most consumed carbohydrates in the human diet. Traditional staple foods such as cereals, roots and tubers are the main source of dietary starch. Starch is one of the main energy sources in our diet.

Starch has many applications, not only in the food industry. Starch and starch derivatives are widely used in paper manufacturing, in glues, such as wallpaper glue, cosmetics and even as a lubricant in oil drilling. The word starch is derived from the Middle English sterchen, meaning to stiffen, which is appropriate since it can be used as a thickening agent when dissolved in water and heated.

South Pacific Brewery in line with its parent company (Heineken) and also with the government’s aim of a self-sustainable country by 2050, became the first local manufacturer to produce a sample beer out of cassava grown in the country in the Morobe province.

The success of the project will now set the crop on a part of full commercialization path that will benefit rural farmers in the participating province and the country down the line. Initiated in 2014 the development of a local starch source has been successful after close to three years of partnerships with landowners, the Department of Agriculture and Livestock, and the expertise of local cassava expert Dr Keith Galgal.

Speaking at the sampling event, South Pacific Brewery Managing Director Stan Joyce attributed the success of the first ever beer production from local cassava starch as more than just the making of beer. He said that with important role subsistence agriculture plays in the country, the development of a cassava starch industry would not only impact the economy but the lives of ordinary Papua New Guinean families.

“The sky is the limit and we know how important it is to develop agriculture in Papua New Guinea rather than just relying on the (mineral) resources sector,” Joyce said.

“I have a vision of many thousands of families throughout Papua New Guinea growing cassava and it will be produced in different starch factories and used in Papua New Guinea not only for beer but for other things.”

“I have been around the food industry most of my life and I can tell you that you don’t have a food industry unless you have starch, sugar, and acid.”

“We have sugar in Papua New Guinea but we don’t have a local starch source- we can if we do this type of project and gets all the way towards our Vision 2050 of being a self-sufficient country.”

Joyce pointed out that there is still a lot of work to be done to commercialize the project- adding the successful commercialization of crop in Africa and Asia as testament to it.

“Cassava is a major contributor to the Thai (Thailand) economy for some 400 million tonnes a year, which is a vast amount.”

“It is used in the manufacturing of other materials like chips, paper, industrial alcohol which was a big project tried down at Launa Kalana.”

“We as a brewery honestly believe that we are able to put some of the money that we make in Papua New Guinea into a catalyst investment in the project that we can make it attractive to people.”

“That we are able to do it and in time we will be able to get sufficient product produced and then make cassava for beer.”

He also congratulated the agriculture minister and the department for their support for the project’s success. Saying that in partnership with the Department of Agriculture and Livestock, a lot of work through the National Agriculture Research Institute they identified how best to grow the crop. He explained that there was no request from the government for funding- with State support needed only to commercialize the crop in the country.

“It easy to grow here and we just have to get the marketing right. I have a vision for cassava being an important cash crop for Papua New Guinea.”

“As it is at the moment the malt that is used to brew beer is brought all the way from Australia to as far as China and other countries.”

“We wanted to look for a local starch source we could use to produce beer. Because Papua New Guinea is in the tropics it is difficult to grow barley, so we were looking for a starch source so through our own parent company and other work that we’ve done we have been able to identify cassava as a potential crop to be used,” Joyce said.

The SP Cassava project Consultant Dr Keith Galgal said that with the success of the sampling they are set to have up to 3,000 to 5,000 landowners to grow cassava within the Houn-Gulf, Markham and Nawab areas within Lae in close proximity to SP’s Lae brewery along the Highlands and Wau-Bulolo highways.

“In terms of tonnage in the next couple of years we are looking at growing up to 100 tonnes a year of fresh cassava roots,” Dr Galgal said.

“That will produce 22,000 to 30,000 tonnes of cassava starch, which is a lot. SP’s requirement is less than that at the moment, maybe 4000 5000 tonnes of starch for the brewery.”

“The rest will be used for other purposes in the food industries or other industries who may want to make noodles, flour, soft drinks, and also in many other industrial uses.”

Galgal concluded that the industry itself has been around long, but has not been fully taken serious until being initiated by the local brewer. He said SP has gotten the ball rolling in creating an industry in the country.

“There have been some interest from other food industries- we have not spoken to others who use starch, but like all things it is scale to scale going.”

“When you have processing going and reach the volume then others get interested,” he concluded.

The giant steps taken by SP for an industry that has existed long before, brings the local brewer much closer to the community than they have ever been, through sports and their other programs. Coming right down to the heart of true survival for the majority of our people by taking a simple crop in almost every rural garden and turning it into gold.