Red Stripe taking cassava to new heights
FIVE YEARS after the launch of Project Grow, Red Stripe’s local raw material sourcing initiative has really grown, taking roots well beyond its’ original mandate.
With 2,256 acres of cassava under cultivation, 98 Learning for Life graduates and 15 per cent of the imported starch used in its malt, beer and stout beverages sourced from locally grown cassava, Red Stripe is taking cultivation of the root tuber to another level. To this end, the company has been generating employment through training and certification of young Jamaicans in good agricultural practices.
In addition to those farmers gainfully employed on the four Red Stripe-operated farms in St Catherine and Clarendon, 121 third-party contract farmers cultivate a combined additional 1,300 acres of cassava. Where necessary, those out-growers are provided with start-up farmer kits comprised of planting material, irrigation equipment and fertilizer for the first year. They participate in ongoing training, consistent with the company’s stringent adherence to agricultural practices of the highest quality.
On a recent field trip to Wallen, the company’s latest acquisition in rural St Catherine, workers were engaged in a range of activities on the 250-acre property where cassava was at various stages of cultivation. The 37 employees, most of them from Wallen, Time and Patience, and Cheesefield, were observed planting, weeding and fertilizing the more than 10 varieties of cassava.The Brown Colombian, ideally suitable for mechanised harvesting because of its propensity for most of the roots to form closer to the surface, is the number one choice. Add to that the fact that it bears very well and is very hardy. However, the Blue Bud, a local strain which is also hardy and shows strong resistance to pests, shares pride of place, according to crop production supervisor Michael Williams.