Cassava flour applied for bread to overcome food crisis

Ghanaians will soon eat bread made from cassava flour, when a project to produce composite flour takes off in the country.

Composite flour consists of 20% of hybrid cassava flour and 80% of wheat, and does not reduce the quality of the flour.

The use of cassava flour in the production of bread is one of the measures instituted by government to contain the current food crisis facing the world.
Research has been done on the use of cassava flour with wheat flour for the production of bread, but legislation to enable flour mills to implement the process would soon be passed.

Ghana does not produce wheat but bread produced from wheat flour is a large part of the diet of many Ghanaians. The wheat is normally imported and the flour milled in the country.

This was made known by the Minister of Food and Agriculture, Mr. Ernest Akobuor Debrah in an interview with Joy News’ Akwasi Sarpong.

He said the government is considering measures that will help maintain current food prices in the country. He said in addition to sustaining the current food supply in the country with regards to food production, government is also looking at how to deal with the possible situations that might occur with regards to imported foods like rice and wheat.

He said Ghana, unlike her neighbours has stable food prices, and that is why the country has not experienced food related riots.

He said lots of structures have been put into place to produce good quality rice in Ghana. He revealed that experiments are ongoing for the production of what is known as ‘Nerica’ or New Rice for Africa.

These measures he said would reduce the importation of rice and increase local production.

Meanwhile, World Bank President, Robert Zoellick has said the crisis of surging world food prices could mean “seven lost years” in the fight against worldwide poverty.

He said “While many are worrying about filling their gas tanks, many others around the world are struggling to fill their stomachs, and it is getting more and more difficult every day.”

In his opinion therefore, to meet the crisis, there is the need for what he calls a “New Deal on Global Food Policy.”

He called on governments to fill the US$500 million food gap identified by the United Nations’ World Food Programme (WFP) for the “immediate crisis.”

Under the New Deal, the World Bank will nearly double agricultural lending to Sub-Saharan Africa over the next year to US$800 million to substantially increase crop productivity. In addition, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the World Bank Group’s arm for private sector development, will boost its agribusiness investments.

The World Bank president is also proposing that sovereign wealth funds around the world allocate US$30 billion – one percent of their US$3 trillion assets – to investments for African “growth, development, and opportunity.” At his press briefing Thursday, Zoellick said rising food prices are also contributing to malnutrition, one of the “forgotten” Millennium Development Goals.

He said, “this is not just about meals foregone today or about increasing social unrest. This is about lost learning potential for children and adults in the future, stunted intellectual and physical growth. Even more, we estimate that the effect of this food crisis on poverty reduction worldwide is in the order of seven lost years. So we need to address this not just as an immediate emergency but also in the medium term for development.”

Mr. Zoellick said the poor of the world spend as much as 75 percent of their income on food. “In just two months, rice prices have skyrocketed to near historical levels, rising by around 75 percent globally.” The price of wheat has risen 120 percent over the past year, he added.

The World Bank estimates that over the past three years, food prices overall have risen 83 percent.