( 3 minutes read)
· The Zambian government has declared cassava as an industrial crop. This follows the launch of the Sunbird Bioenergy Zambia cassava project in Kawambwa District of Luapula Province
· The company has in the last one year registered 5000 smallholder cassava farmers in Kawambwa
· The roots with high starch are dried as chips and processed for extraction of pure starch
· The starch then is converted into glucose by enzyme hydrolysis to be fermented by microorganisms for production of industrial and other types of alcohol
The Zambian government has declared cassava as an industrial crop. This follows the launch of the Sunbird Bioenergy Zambia cassava project in Kawambwa District of Luapula Province. The company has in the last one year registered 5000 smallholder cassava farmers in Kawambwa.
Apart from using as a food item, cassava will now have various industrial uses, such as in the case of production of industrial alcohol, ethanol, starch, electricity generation, among others. The crop, therefore, would now offer more economic opportunities to small scale farmers which will lift thousands out of poverty.
Cassava serves not only as a staple food for mankind but also an industrial crop for food and non-food applications. The roots with high starch are dried as chips and processed for extraction of pure starch. The starch then is converted into glucose by enzyme hydrolysis to be fermented by microorganisms for production of industrial and other types of alcohol. Dried chips are an important carbohydrate source in animal feed as well as for the bio-based economy, for example bioethanol and organic acid production
