Jamaica producers grosses $50M from cassava chips

Jamaica Producers Group Limited (JP) has grossed as much as $50 million in sales from its St Mary Cassava Chips project since its launch in October 2008.

Minister of Agriculture Dr Christopher Tufton made the announcement at his sectoral presentation in Parliament yesterday. Tufton lauded the St Mary Cassava Chips project as an important development in light of Government's mandate to facilitate value-added activity in agriculture.

Jamaica Producers has sold banana chips under the St Mary brand for more than nine years and the company now has over 550 acres of bananas and cassava, with 450 employees.

In November, Jamaica Producers, through its JP Tropical Foods division, started producing cassava chips under its St Mary brand. The company grows 50 acres of Colombian Sweet and Blue Bud varieties of cassava, and its factory has the capacity to produce one million bags of chips per week.

The company will add to the JP Tropical Foods snack line when it launches sweet potato chips in August, and is currently exploring the potential for production of dasheen chips.