Cassava, the energy-rich plant is helping to sustain rural farming communities in Mozambique.
Judging by its brown bottle packaging, Mozambique’s Impala beer looks just like any other beer on the market. Although it is brewed like a typical beer, Impala is made from cassava, a root vegetable that grows in tropical areas.
There’s a quiet cassava revolution in Africa as organisations and governments realise the plant’s impact on empowering smallholder farmers and developing rural communities.
Mozambique is among the key players at the forefront of the growing buzz around cassava, having found a way to farm and process the plant on a large scale.
At the heart of this development is the Dutch Agriculture Development and Trading Company (DADTCO). The company has developed a mobile processing factory that is able to process the crop into cake and starch flour.
Not only has DADTCO’s invention changed the perception around cassava and the way the crop is grown and processed, but it has helped empower smallholder farmers, whom the company buys cassava from. This breakthrough technology, they say, “bridges the gap between smallholder farmers and large food companies.”
With the company sourcing the starchy root from more than 7,000 smallholder farmers, DADTCO’s innovation is enhancing food security in Mozambique, while also creating far-reaching job opportunities for rural farmers.
Better revenue streams are created and tens of thousands of dollars per month are injected into the local economy.
SOURCE: Africa.com