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Cassava Flour FLOUR made from sweet potato and cassava may soon be an option for consumers affected by huge price increases

over the past year. The Trinidad and Tobago Agri-Business Association (TTABA) has been producing cassava flour and has begun

to experiment with the manufacture of flour from sweet potato. TTABA Chief Executive Officer Vassel Stuart said that sweet

potato flour held great promise. He said that cassava flour will reach the grocery shelves by the end of the year and that

farmers contracted to grow it had started harvesting the crop. "The ability of farmers to produce cassava on a large scale

will determine the success of the product," he said, adding that cassava flour was a healthier choice for consumers.

According to Stuart, "adding cassava flour to wheat flour will enhance flavour and enrich food prepared at homes and

restaurants". He said the association has been waiting for produce from contract farmers to increase production of cassava

flour and that research into sweet potato flour was continuing at TTABA laboratories. The state-owned company set up by

government to upgrade and expand the agricultural sector has been registering farmers in Central for contract farming. "We

are on the verge of signing contracts to grow sweet potato on over 500,000 acres of land," he said. He said that private

farmers had shown a readiness to get into contract farming and the price offered for sweet potato at $1.30 a pound had been

increased to $1.90 a pound. He said that sweet potato chips had already become a success and cassava flour would be a healthy

option for consumers. President of the Central Farmers Association and the Cunupia Farmers Cooperative Society, Anil

Deonarine, said that farmers began cultivation of sweet potato and would be signing contracts with TTABA which would purchase

all the harvest at a fixed price. He pointed out that Central farmers had been studying market trends and had been planting

crops in such a way that the market would not be flooded. "Tomatoes sold at $4 in the retail market would only put $2 a pound

in the farmers' pockets, it cannot pay us," he said adding that the cost of production was too high. Deonarine pointed out

that there were as many as 20,000 farmers in the country and very often the market becomes flooded with certain crops.

"Contract farming is the best solution," he said adding that guaranteed price for sweet potato would enable farmers to invest

in the crop and ensure bumper harvests.