Mhogo Foods marketing officer Peter Mbugua displays cassava flour at a farmers’ trade fair in Thika, Kiambu County, on February 24, 2017. Cassava farmers have a new market. PHOTO BY LABAN ROBERT.
Cassava farmers can now fetch better prices by selling their produce to a new flour processing firm in Kiambu County.
Some starch processing companies pay less than Sh10 per kilo depending on the amount of starch in the tubers.
Mhogo Foods is paying between Sh50 and Sh70 per kilo of cassava to farmers upon delivery of the produce.
The company also makes arrangement for deliveries from far areas to cut on transportation costs for farmers to allow for more profits.
“It is easy for us to aggregate the cassava from various farmers and use a single transport means. This means that the farmers have to group themselves together for easy collection of the harvest on an agreed date,” the Mhogo Foods marketing manager, Peter Mbugua said.
Although a lot of cassava is tilled in Lower Eastern regions like Machakos, most of this factory’s produce is from Western Kenya. This is, therefore, an opportunity for farmers from this region to access ready market. The milling machine is at Banana town.
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Cassava tubers are highly perishable. They have to the processed or dried within seven days to avoid poisoning from cyanide. When cyanide combines with water, it becomes poisonous to animals and humans if consumed and can lead to death in a few hours.
The cassava is processed into flour mill for cooking porridge with the addition of a few more ingredients.
A tuber is of good quality if it has attained at least one foot and two inches thick.
Peelings from the tubers are used in making animal feeds.
The company can be reached on +254710397758 or +254792478050