Ms Priscilla Fiati, a Business Development Manager at TIAST Group, has on advised Ghanaians to take advantage of the ready market for processed end product like cassava starch at the 6th Agricultural Industrialization Conference in Takoradi.

She mentioned that although TIAST Group was able to supply 600,000 tons of cassava starch every year, that was just a fraction of the global demand. Citing China as the largest importer of cassava starch every year, valued over US$3million, she was hopeful Ghana would be part of the value chain by increasing the exportation of cassava starch to a substantial rate, thereby creating more jobs and alleviating poverty.

Ms Fiati also hinted that Ghana and Africa has a great potential in the agriculture sector, yet, she is faced with challenges such as subsistence farming, earning little returns on yields, the reluctance of banks to invest in agriculture due to security reasons, inadequate technology for efficient production and value addition to products with no assurance of a ready market, and return on investment has led to the industry not maximizing its full potential.

To that effect, she indicated that TIAST Group was performing its bid to foster the maximization of this potential by providing the opportunity for people to own a processing plant with a guaranteed ready market for the processed products, technology and technical support as well as financial lease.

The conference, themed Financial and Technological Support for Agricultural Processing, was organized by the TIAST Group in partnership with Stanbic Bank.