The Ceiba Citrus Company, located in Caimito, Artemisa, has bet all its cards on the construction of a new cassava flour factory. However, despite the investment that the plant required, its directors cannot guarantee that the tuber harvest on the island will meet their expectations.
Alejandro Valdés, general director of the state company, assured the provincial newspaper the artemiseño who work “without rest” in the assembly of the machinery, with an initial production capacity of 200 to 1,200 kilos per day. In full operation, the manager assured, the technology will allow one ton of flour to be obtained for every two of fresh cassava.
The operation will require a stable supply of the tuber and, although the quantity required for the opening of the factory is assured, Ceiba does not have guarantees that the national cassava production can keep up. Within a year, a minimum of 300 hectares will be required to maintain the industry, with a yield of between eight and 10 tons per hectare.
The machinery is a donation from the Sustainable Agriculture Support Project (PAAS), executed with the support of the Swiss Agency for Development and the Dutch NGO Hivos, dedicated to strengthening agricultural production on the Island. Valdés assured that since June last year they are “immersed” in the assembly, but he acknowledged that there were delays because they did not have the “pertinent capacity” to handle the technology, which has caused “variations in the entire process and has been a very useful learning experience”.
Within a year, a minimum of 300 hectares will be required to maintain the industry, with a yield of between eight and 10 tons per hectare.
The shortage of materials has made it difficult to meet deadlines, added Orestes Leiva, administrator of the new industry, who expects the plant to be ready between February 15 and 20, if the input of materials remains stable.
Valdés explained that the machines will cover the entire process, from the transport of the cassava to its cleaning in a tank where blades will remove its shell. Then, it will be transferred to a grinder and dried in the oven at about 400 degrees, to finally grind and package the flour.
Cassava derivatives have served as an alternative to the scarcity and rising prices of wheat and other cereals on the island, mainly for making bread that is distributed in the standard family basket. Its high starch content makes it a healthy food and is also used in industries such as pharmaceuticals and cosmetics, and can even be used to replace malt in beers.
The derivatives of cassava have served as an alternative to the scarcity and increase in the cost of wheat and other cereals on the island, mainly for making bread.
However, its use in baking has not achieved popular acceptance, which points to breads made with a mixture of the tuber and wheat flour as less durable, with a darker dough and variations in flavor. For most consumers, the use of cassava for these purposes results in a lower quality food.
Sergio Rodríguez Morales, director of the National Institute for Research on Tropical Viands (Inivit) of the Ministry of Agriculture, told the official newspaper Granma that cassava cultivation has had several “significant advances”, but insisted that it falls short of meeting the demand for human, animal and industrial consumption.
Cuba currently has about 111,000 hectares of cassava, the highest area in history, although the goal of the Ministry of Agriculture is to reach 200,000 hectares in the “shortest possible time,” said the technician.
the note of Granma, published last November, refers to the fact that producers see more profitable income in cassava with the sale of each quintal at 350 pesos. Raidel García, a farmer from Camajuaní, considered that it is an “irreplaceable plant in current times” because it is harvested throughout the year and survives without irrigation and application of fertilizers.
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