Cassava Processing Plant Being Built By The Government of Jamaica

The government of Jamaica is fostering the expansion of Jamaica’s cassava industry with the construction of a processing plant, according to an official in the Office of the Prime Minister.

The initiative is part of the government’s plan to increase production of cassava and expand its use in the baking industry.

Prime Minister Portia Simpson-Miller said the new processing plant will be located in the southern parish of St. Elizabeth and thanked the Colombian government for its support in the establishment of a factory.

“We are also strengthening the cassava industry by working with the University of the West Indies, to produce cassava flour for use in the baking of bread,” Simpson-Miller said in a statement.

In mid-June, Jamaica’s largest brewer, Red Stripe, began substituting locally produced cassava starch for barley in its beer as part of a government-led initiative to reduce the island’s dependence on imports.