(de Ware Tijd) PARAMARIBO – Even before the cassava processing plant in Para has been operational, export deals had been closed. Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Lackin had personally seen to signing an agreement with Barbados.
The plant, Innovative Agro-Processing Industries Ltd. (IAP) was officially opened yesterday. Lackin explains that Barbados decided by law last year that at least 10 percent of its flour for the production of bread should contain cassava flour. This is an excellent chance for Suriname to have Barbados as its first outlet. The Minister did not provide details on the export volume, but he assured that the technical details are already in place. At least ten Barbadian bakeries will include cassava flour in their bread. Lackin points out Suriname is busy finding outlets. ‘We have been instructed to continue looking for outlets, and that’s exactly what we’ll do.’
He referred to the Victoria project as proof that developments in the agrarian sector are steady. The former palm oil producing plant will now house several test plots for agrarian products. The cassava project is a private enterprise of Robert Power, food expert and honorary consul of Barbados, and Kamela Madho, economist and Lackin’s concubine. ‘We have 600 people across the country on our list who promised to supply us’, Power says. ‘The IAP will educate them on the particulars of how and when to plant. This heralds a new era for cassava cultivation in Suriname.’
Several training centers will be put up across the country to provide the suppliers with the necessary information on cassava cultivation. ‘Training is imperative to guarantee the quality of the product’, Power explained during his presentation. The product will be a perfect replacement for rice. He is certain that the new plant will have a national and regional impact. The cassava project has the support of government, proof of which was the presence of almost all coalition legislators and some of the opposition, including Mahinder Yogi, who stimulates the cultivation of cassava in his home district Saramacca.
