RED Stripe, the Jamaica-based subsidiary of Heineken International, reported that it has 460 acres of land under cassava cultivation of which 300 acres are owned by the company and 160 acres are under contract with 12 farmers.

The company wants to increase the acreage by 120 acres to 580, and the number of farmers from 12 to 24, to replace the heavy reliance on imported, maltose corn syrup of which five per cent is used in the production of Red Stripe beer and Dragon Stout, with an aim to achieve 40 per cent cassava starch in their production of Red Stripe and Dragon Stout.

But does Red Stripe’s interest in a mere 580 acres of cassava farming and 24 farmers represent a genuine interest in this subsector or is it to satisfy the requirements for craft beer status which is to brew indigenous ingredients in smaller volumes to enhance taste, versus commercial-type beers which are brewed from non-traditional, poor-quality ingredients such as corn, wheat, barley, etc — with large volumes of water — to produce commercial beers for profit motive mostly?

In fact, Red Stripe was taken to court in the USA to verify the beer’s status as craft beer, and this seemed to be one of the reasons for the company’s involvement in cassava production locally — and Jamaica Agricultural Society (JAS) fully endorses it as a step in the right direction, especially since the foreign exchange impact is positive.

In the recent past Red Stripe introduced three craft beer types in the market: sorrel, lemon and melon beers — and maybe others are on the way. This is good news for agriculture since more local, traditional crops are used in the value-added manner to make different products for both local and export markets.

Cassava has great historical importance to Jamaica, dating back to 1492 when the Spanish arrived and found the Taino population surviving on cassava as a staple.

It’s optioned that the slaughtering of the Tainos was more to get rid of cassava as a staple so as to use the imported staples from Europe instead as the food for the people, such as rice, wheat flour, cornmeal, and pickled meat proteins, etc. It’s puzzling how difficult it is to undo this unhealthy diet that has beset us for 500 years.

Cassava production in Jamaica has created more hardship for farmers than any other crop because promises across administrations were never backed by written contracts offered to cassava farmers as a means of sustainability for their efforts.

In the 1970s the Goshen cassava factory was built in St Elizabeth but only operated for a short period because the price paid to farmers for their cassava was below production cost, there was limited irrigation, and the yields per acre were poor.

Another attempt has been made by The University of the West Indies (The UWI) and a factory was built at Elim, St Elizabeth, but this failed as well.

A few other small factories were established in New Works, St Elizabeth; Flour Hill, St James; and Rural Agricultural Development Authority’s (RADA) bammy factory located in Twickenham Park, St Catherine. There are many cottage cassava entities in Jamaica, mostly making bammies for various market segments, some of which are unregistered.

Studies have shown that cassava is suitable for animal feed but an industry would have to be developed around it to produce the economical quantities at prices to make processing feasible.

This unstable cassava industry needs a fillip in the form of government support; greater private sector involvement like that of Red Stripe; research; available funding; and animal feed manufacturing companies’ willingness to use cassava as one of the carbohydrates in their formula.

It’s inconceivable not to have a cassava institute on the RADA office complex in St Elizabeth in order to drive research and to be the nucleus for cassava farmers islandwide — besides the obvious which would be to facilitate a rendezvous for the collection and dissemination of technical information on cassava.