the goan I network
CANACONA
Come February and Canacona will have the state’s first ever tapioca crop. State awardee Prasad Velip had taken up cultivation of Cassava, a plant native to Brazil, on two hectares of his farmland at Dabel-Cotigao in October 2017. He expects the first harvest of tapioca, a starch extracted from the cassava root, by February 2018.
Velip, a recipient of the state award for his dedicated farming activities is the first farmer in the state to commercially engage in tapioca production at the behest of Canacona ZAO Chandrahas Dessai.
“The ZAO highlighted the high demand for raw tapioca in domestic and international markets and convinced me to take up production on a little larger scale for the first time in the state,” said Velip.
According to Velip, tapioca is used to prepare chips and is in high demand across the world as a raw material.
Sources said a processing unit at Verna is eagerly awaiting the tapioca crop after having expressed interest in purchasing the raw tapioca.
Besides chips, cassava can be processed into a number of products, such a starch, flour, ethanol and glucose syrup.
“After processing the raw tapioca, the chips are packaged in frozen containers of 40 tonnes each for exports,” informed a source at the local agriculture office.
According to reports, tapioca cultivation has been taken up on large scale in Kerala.
