Caption: 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.
By MATTHEW VARI
Sunday, March 20, 2016 (PNG)
AFTER almost three years since South Pacific Brewery initiated the country’s first brew from its cassava starch project in Erap, Huon-Gulf District- the brewery held a sampling event on Tuesday.
The achievement marked a milestone in both the commercialization potential of local cassava (known locally as tapioca) and the localization of beer production materials within the country.
Speaking to those present, a proud SP Brewery Managing Director Stan Joyce, spoke of the aim of the local brewer to venture into sustainable sourcing of its ingredients.
“Some years back we looked at sustainability in what we do in Papua New Guinea. As you know we have been here for over 60 years and we have had a lot of good things that have happened in the sports and community programs, but in line with our with our parent company Heineken we wanted to look at sustainability sourcing local materials.”
“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.
He said 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.
Pinning the success of the project on the success and lessons of past experiences in Thailand and that of similar local undertakings- Joyce pointed out the economic benefits and industrial need for the starch industry.
“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.”
Joyce added that with its products, quality and taste would always be factor for its consumers.
“Of course people are very cumbersome of the quality of their beer in Papua New Guinea and having SP taste as it is and for people be assured that it is a high quality, the last thing we wanted to do is produce an inferior beer.”
“The work that we’ve done tonight is a result of the work that we have done with Dr Keith Galgal. They have been doing at Erap to get enough cassava together to put this through a trial.”
He pointed out that it was a major milestone moving forward making beer made with Papua New Guinea cassava, even if it wasn’t a total replacement of malt.
“It is not a complete replacement as you still have maze and some other materials in there, some malt barley, but it is giving the opportunity for Papua Farmers to grow the product and that is the important thing.”
With the sampling done he added that it would take another year before the locally added ingredient would hit the market in their well-known products.
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