The TIAST Group has partnered with Stanbic Bank and the Ghana Export Promotion Authority (GEPA) to provide support for women into cassava farming to boost production and processing for export.
The partnership was outdoored at a conference organised by TIAST Group for Women in Agriculture on the theme; Empowering Women in Agriculture through Financial and Technical Support for Agro Processing.
Speaking at the conference held on Thursday, March 17, 2022, at the Canwin Hotel, Miss Irene Sackey who is the International Business Manager for TIAST Group indicated that the event was specially organised in the month the International Women’s Day to celebrate the efforts of women in farming in Ghana.
She stressed that the goal of her outfit is to help farmers who want to produce at a very large scale and not just for consumption but for export.
According to her, the demand for starch across the world is very high, and Ghanaian farmers, especially women must take advantage to provide for the large international market.
Through the partnership between TIAST, GEPA, and Stanbic Bank, women in cassava farming will receive both financial and technical support to set up factories that will process the cultivated yields for export.
“TIAST has a lot of experience in the Timber processing industry and that’s why we have come to help these farmers who want to set up factories. When the factories are set up, we won’t just leave them. We will help them with maintainable and factory support. Everything that will be processed through the factory too we will sell it for them to any parts of the world,” Miss Irene Sackey told journalists on the sidelines of the conference.
The TIAST Group International Business Manager added, “We will also help the farmers with financial support because we know they need money to go into this kind of venture. We are working with banks such as Stanbic which will help with 80% of the money needed to set up the factory.”
On her part, the Head of Agribusiness at Stanbic Bank Ghana Miss Lilian Bazaale stressed that her outfit is pleased to be part of a programme to focus on adding value to cassava for export.
She disclosed that her outfit is making available funding to set up factories to ensure cassava farmers can process their products for the global market.
“From Stanbic Bank, we are extremely interested in supporting agribusiness. We have signed a partnership with TIAST. We are interested in supporting and developing the cassava value chain for export.
“We are financing equipment, we are financing important and installation of factories that are processing cassava into starch,” Miss Lilian Bazaale noted.
In an interview, the Chief Executive Officer for GEPA, Dr. Afua Asabea Asare assured that the government is ready to do all it can to cushion farmers to add value to produce knowing the importance of export.
She said she is confident that with focus, the partnership between her outfit, the TIAST Group, and Stanbic Bank will see success for the benefit of not just the farmers but Ghana as a whole.
“The government knows that it is very important for us to export our products and not just export them in the raw form but to add value and it’s doing everything it can to support all these exporters, manufacturers, and farmers everywhere
“This is a process that we have begun and we believe that if we focus on it, it should yield good results for us. We should all trust the process,” Dr. Afua Asabea Asare told journalists.
TIAST Group amongst the many incentives it is ready to give to women cultivating cassava has set aside the ‘WomanUp Operational Premium’ incentive to give out a million dollars to three lucky farmers looking to set up their own starch factory.
Stanbic Bank is also ready to support 70-80% of the total cost of factory setup. They will give farmers two to five years to pay back with proceeds from produce that will be processed and exported.
Any cassava farmer or group of farmers with the desire to benefit from the partnership is urged to contact TIAST Group at their office at Trade Fair or contact the outfit via their social media handles.
