Scientist Urges Investment in Cassava-Based Glucose Syrup Industry

Dr. Gregory Afra Komlaga of Ghana’s Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) has called on entrepreneurs and investors to explore the vast commercial potential of cassava, highlighting its industrial applications beyond traditional food use. In a detailed presentation, Dr. Komlaga outlined technologies developed by the CSIR–Food Research Institute that can transform cassava into high-value industrial products, including glucose syrup, adhesives, and high-quality flour.

His remarks focused on shifting cassava from a home-consumed staple to a raw material for industrial-scale manufacturing. While cassava remains a vital food crop for over 800 million people globally, including in Ghana, where it grows in nearly every region, more than 95% of its production remains confined to domestic consumption. This, Dr. Komlaga argued, has limited economic returns for farmers and hindered long-term production sustainability.

Referencing Ghana’s past cassava initiatives, he noted that the absence of processing industries during the early 2000s’ Presidential Special Initiative on cassava led to oversupply, market failure, and farmer frustration. To address this, CSIR has developed post-harvest solutions, including a technology to convert cassava into high-quality, unfermented flour suitable for baking and industrial use.

One of the most promising innovations presented was the glucose syrup production process, developed as a response to the rising costs and import dependence on wheat and other starch sources. The technology involves converting high-quality cassava flour (HQCF) into glucose syrup using plant-based enzymes derived from locally malted rice. The resulting product is a thick, sweet liquid identical in function to corn syrup, commonly used in the U.S., but produced using Ghana’s abundant cassava crop.

Glucose syrup has multiple applications in the food, beverage, confectionery, brewing, and pharmaceutical industries, serving as a sweetener, thickening agent, and stabilizer. In pharmaceuticals, for instance, it plays a key role in masking the bitterness of medicines such as paracetamol syrups and in coating tablets.

Despite the availability of local raw materials and proven technologies, Ghana currently imports glucose syrup, mainly from Turkey, China, and India, at an annual cost of nearly $3.8 million, excluding port and logistics charges. Dr. Komlaga emphasized that this represents a missed opportunity for import substitution, job creation, and rural industrialization.

Beyond glucose syrup, CSIR has also developed cassava-based adhesives for the plywood and paperboard industries, offering a locally sourced alternative to imported synthetic binders. These adhesives have been successfully piloted with support from the Forestry Research Institute of Ghana and adopted by some domestic manufacturers.

The call to action from Dr. Komlaga is clear: cassava should be seen not only as a food crop but as a strategic industrial commodity. With proven technologies in place and abundant raw material supply, Ghana stands to benefit significantly from targeted investment in cassava processing. Such investment, he argued, would unlock new value chains, reduce import dependence, and boost income for farmers, especially in cassava-rich regions like Eastern, Ashanti, Volta, Bono, Ahafo, and Savannah.

As Ghana seeks to diversify its economy and improve food security through local manufacturing, cassava could offer a scalable and sustainable path forward, if supported by the right mix of entrepreneurship, capital, and policy attention.

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