Picture: Minister for Agriculture Hon. Dr. Mahendra Reddy with the invited guests and officials at the launch of Vertically Integrated Cassava Flour Enterprise.

The introduction of organic cassava flour into the market as a substitute for imported regular wheat flour bodes well towards the Fijian Government’s import substitution efforts.

This was shared by Minister for Agriculture, Waterways and Environment Hon. Dr. Mahendra Reddy while officiating at the launching of the Vertically Integrated Cassava Flour Enterprise, owned by Tavioka Organic (Fiji) Pte Limited at Drasa, outside Lautoka yesterday.

Minister Reddy said that continued partnership and collaboration between Government, development partners and the private sector fostered genuine, tangible developments, setting the foundations for innovative thinking. 

“In 2020, Fiji imported around $111.4million worth of wheat. Flour is the main component in our diet and processed flour is used in pastry and bakery products. Every household in Fiji consumes flour in one form or another on a daily basis.

“While wheat flour is an important diet component, its costs takes its toll on Fiji’s import bill as our reliance on wheat flour grows daily,” he said.

He said with cassava being available locally, and with its commercialization in phases, would bring in positive effects that would impact farmers to prepare them for changes that would come to this new venture.

“While our weather conditions are not good to grow wheat, but we can substitute wheat through to an extent and we’ve done some trials at our Koronivia Research Station to see how far we can blend wheat with locally available substitutes and the best and only substitute is cassava flour and we’ve noted that we can go up to 20% without losing the quality, texture and taste of bread and roti, which are the two most widely consumed wheat products.

Minister Reddy also praised the acumen of Organic Tavioka (Fiji) Pte Limited’s founder and owner, Mr. Anwar Khan in taking a step further to add value and process cassava flour at a commercial level, while employing a business model that supported community development.

Meanwhile, Mr. Khan said his goal was to help contribute to the economy by providing opportunities to neighbouring communities and to have a social impact.

“What we’re going to deliver is important, not what we had yesterday because we need to grow and growing something like cassava is one of the simplest crops to grow, it is a global $10billion industry and yet we’re sitting idle on our land,” said Mr. Khan. 

“We hoped to have a social impact in our communities by creating employment, and we have 5 women now who are part of our social impact programme and so we’re asking others to take up cassava planting and to add your land to this programme, even one acre or two of cassava should be enough because, through this method, you will be able to make money and grow,” added Mr. Khan. 

“It is also providing opportunities to the communities to earn a living and improve their livelihood, especially for our women,” he said.

Vakabuli Village, Vitogo, Naviyago, Varewa settlement, Vadreyawa and Vanuakula settlements are expected to benefit from the cassava development programme drawn up by the company as Organic Tavioka (Fiji) Pte Limited is willing to plough, harvest and process their cassava into cassava flour.

-Ends-

• ← Go to all Press Releases