Cassava in focus of Green Leader, UN deal

Hong Kong-based Green Leader Holding Group and the United Nations Development Progamme (UNDP) signed a cost-sharing agreement on Thursday to implement an $800,000 project on accelerating the cassava market.

Minister of Commerce Pan Sorasak presided over the signing of the deal which established a project that will span nearly three-and-a-half years and see $500,000 injected by Green Leader and $300,000 by the UNDP.

The project will mainly work to develop the value chain in the eastern provinces of the Kingdom.

Green Leader is currently overseeing the construction of a $20 million cassava processing factory on 20 hectares in Kratie province’s Snuol district.

When complete, the factory will have the capacity to produce 100,000 tonnes of tapioca a year – a haul that would require 400,000 tonnes of raw cassava from local farmers.

Green Holding CEO Michael Tse said the country’s cassava sector is showing potential.

“We are eager to help industrialise the sector by establishing processing facilities throughout the country to produce value-added products such as cassava starch and modified starch, to be exported to markets in Asia and Europe,” he said.

The company plans to spend $150 million on 10 processing facilities over the next three years.

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