Cassava Processing Level 3

Who it is for. People who have finished Cassava Processing Level 2, or who already run a gari or flour enterprise and can show the same skills, and who want to manage a processing unit, supply bigger buyers or start their own business. Ghana's TVET framework places National Proficiency II below National Certificate I. This module is written at an advanced level, comparable to National Certificate I; that comparison is the author's judgement, not a CTVET ruling.

Bridge from Level 2: what you already know

Level 3 joins these into a controlled system, adds a laboratory habit, and then teaches you to register, keep the books of, and grow a business.

How the module works

Each unit has learning outcomes, performance criteria, the range and the evidence your assessor needs. You are judged Competent or Not Yet Competent. About 60% of the time is practical. Every unit has a practical task, a homework task and a Check yourself of three questions; units with numbers have an exercise with worked answers for your trainer.

Money is in Ghana cedis (GH¢). Every price, yield and quantity marked "example" is invented for practice. It is not a market price. Collect your own local prices as homework before you rely on any figure.

Competency standard

Range. A gari line and an HQCF line of any size, or the Level 2 training line. Evidence. Flow diagram; HACCP table; laboratory sheet; yield record; oral questions.

What process control means

At Level 1 and 2 you learned each step. At Level 3 you control each step: you decide the limit, measure it, write it down and act when it is missed. HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points) is a way of finding what could make food unsafe and watching the few steps where you can stop it. It has seven principles and is usually taught in twelve steps, and the Codex general food-hygiene text it comes from is CXC 1-1969. I read only summaries of that text, so check the full Codex document before you quote a principle number.

The seven principles, in plain words (the wording is mine):

Step 1: draw the flow and list the hazards

Draw the flow of your process, as it is, not as the book says. For gari, the steps in the IITA guide are: select and sort roots; peel and wash; grate; ferment and dewater; break and sieve; roast; cool; grade by sieve; pack and store. For HQCF: raw material selection, peel, wash, grate or chip, press, disintegrate, sift, dry, mill, screen, package, store; slicing or chipping can replace grating, pressing, disintegration and sifting; roots must be processed within a day or two of harvest.

At each step ask three questions:

Step 2: choose the CCPs

Not every step is a CCP. A CCP is a step where, if you lose control, nobody later can fix it. For cassava the strongest CCPs are about cyanide and dryness.

• Cyanide. Cutting or grating brings the cassava chemical linamarin into contact with an enzyme and releases cyanide. Cyanide dissolves in water and leaves when the fermented material is dried or heated. Peel holds more than pulp, so removing the thick peel lowers it; fermenting is the main step for gari-type products, and longer fermentation gives lower cyanide. Roasting drives off cyanide gas. But hand-made gari in one study was above 10 mg/kg in all samples, so a traditional process is not automatically safe.
• Konzo. Konzo is a permanent paralysis linked to short-cut processing of bitter cassava, for example soaking one or two days instead of three or four, and to rapid commercial processing. It is not widely reported in Ghana; learn it as a warning from other countries.
• Dryness. The Codex gari standard sets moisture at a maximum of 12.0%. Gari bagged damp goes mouldy.

A sample HACCP table for gari

Use it as a model and fill in your own numbers after you test. The limits in italics are things you must set yourself from tested batches; this book does not invent them.

Step 3: simple laboratory checks

You do not need a big laboratory to catch most problems. These checks are cheap. A certificate of analysis for the FDA still comes from a proper laboratory (see Unit 4).

Cyanide testing. Picrate test papers for cassava cyanide exist from the Australian National University; whether they can be bought in Ghana was not verified. Until you have a kit or a laboratory, send samples to a laboratory such as the CSIR-Food Research Institute (price not verified) before you sell in volume. Never use "it tastes fine" as a test.

Sampling. A test is only as good as the sample. Take a small scoop from many bags (for example 10 scoops from different places and depths), mix them on a clean sheet, divide by quarters, and test the opposite quarters. This is standard sampling practice, not a Ghana rule.

Step 4: batch records, traceability and yield

Give every batch a number: date, line and shift (for example 081026-A for 8 Oct 2026, line A). Write the number on the batch card, the bag label and the sales record. If a buyer complains, you can then find which roots, which hands and which pan made it. This is called traceability.

Yield control. Teaching ratios from IITA: high dry-matter varieties give about 1 t of gari from 3 t of roots, and most varieties need about 4 t of roots for 1 t of gari. A single Ghana demonstration unit in 1990 reported an overall 28% recovery from raw cassava to gari. Yield % = gari out ÷ roots in × 100. If your yield drops, find the loss: under-pressing, burning, spillage, rejected lots, weighing mistakes.

Check yourself

1. Name two CCPs for gari and say what the critical limit is for one of them.
2. Why can you not copy "2 mg/kg cyanide" onto a gari label as a Codex rule?
3. What is the difference between moisture of 11.6% and 12.4% for a gari batch?

Competency standard

Range. A gari or gari-and-HQCF plant of 2 to 10 t roots a day. Evidence. Floor plan; capacity sheet; waste plan; oral questions.

The layout rule: one way, wet to dry

IITA's factory layout idea is a sheltered, clean room with the wet and dry areas separate. Draw it as a line: roots in, peel and wash (wet), grate and press (wet), ferment (bagged, off the floor), break and sieve, roast (hot), cool and grade (dry, clean), pack, store, dispatch. People and product move forward; peels and juice go out by their own route and never cross the clean side. Put the hand-wash station at the door of the dry area. Keep storage on pallets in a cool dry place.

Location tips from the same guide: close to farms, because roots rot in 24 to 48 hours, with clean water, drainage and power.

Size the equipment

IITA lists typical capacities: mechanical peeler 2 t/h; motorised grater 2 t/h with a stainless drum; manual sifter 0.2 t/day; mechanical sifter 1 t/day; roasting bay 3 to 6 kg per load; bag stitcher 1 bag a minute (needs a 2 kVA generator); impulse sealer 100 packs/h; weighing scale 100 to 150 kg. Contact surfaces should be stainless steel, because mild steel rusts and contaminates. Avoid pans made from scrap radiators or engine parts: Ghana-made scrap-aluminium pots leached lead and other metals in one study, though no study tested gari pans.

Roasting is the usual bottleneck. A batch took about 10 to 17 minutes in one study. A CSIR mechanical planetary roaster ran at 35 kg/h, and an older guide gave about 2 to 3 kg of ready gari per pan.

Worked example (example numbers). A plant wants to process 5 t of roots a day at the 4-to-1 ratio, so 5,000 ÷ 4 = 1,250 kg of gari a day. Roast for 8 hours.

• Hand pans: 3 kg of ready gari per load, 15 minutes a load = 12 kg per hour per pan; in 8 hours, 96 kg. Pans needed = 1,250 ÷ 96 = 13.02, so 14 pans.
• Mechanical roaster at 35 kg/h: 35 × 8 = 280 kg a day. Roasters needed = 1,250 ÷ 280 = 4.46, so 5 roasters.
• Grater at 2 t/h: 5 ÷ 2 = 2.5 hours of grating.

That is why a plant of this size is mechanised: 14 smoky pans against 5 machines. The capacities are teaching figures from sources dated 1990 to 2020; ask your fabricator for the rated capacity of the machine you plan to buy and test it on your own cassava.

Choosing equipment: how to buy sensibly

1. Write your daily target and the capacity you need (above).
2. Ask three fabricators for a written quote, the machine's rated output, material (stainless contact parts), guards, power need and warranty. A GIZ tender specified a Ghana-made grater with a stainless body, a 10 HP motor and about 1 t/h (specification, no price).
3. Ask to see the machine working on cassava and for names of two users to phone.
4. Check guards on the grater drum and belts. Mechanical graters injure. Good practice is to guard the drum, feed roots with a pusher, and switch off and isolate before clearing a jam.
5. Compare price per tonne of capacity, not just the price tag.

Price listings seen on Jiji (undated; confirm): a cassava grinder GH¢8,000, an industrial squeezer GH¢10,500 (takes 10 bags), a dough squeezer GH¢6,000 and a 10 HP grinder GH¢18,000. Use them only as a rough guide and get three quotes. A 2014 Ashanti project found that local mechanical presses were large and costly.

Energy: fuel and power

Gari processing in an SNV baseline used about 52 kg of fuelwood a day, and an improved stove saved 30%. Another improved stove claimed up to 56% less firewood, a manufacturer-linked best case. Better stoves also take smoke away from the roaster; no measured smoke-exposure data was found.

Worked example (example numbers). Baseline 52 kg a day; with a 30% saving that is 52 × 0.30 = 15.6 kg saved, leaving 36.4 kg. If wood costs GH¢0.80 per kg (example), the saving is 15.6 × 0.80 = GH¢12.48 a day, or GH¢274.56 over 22 working days. A stove costing GH¢2,000 (example) would take 2,000 ÷ 12.48 = about 160 working days to pay back, plus the health gain.

Power. A 10 HP motor is about 7.46 kW (1 HP = 0.7457 kW). Running 2.5 hours a day it uses about 7.46 × 2.5 = 18.6 kWh; at an example GH¢2.00 per kWh that is about GH¢37 a day. Power cuts are common, so decide on a generator or solar plan. Flash dryers for HQCF are the biggest power user: energy cost for small users was higher than for big factories because of poor design, and they need a reliable supply from grid, generator or solar.

Effluent and waste: turn problems into products

Wet cassava processing makes three streams: peels, pressed juice and wash water, and fibre and rejects.

• Juice. In a Western Region training, juice was found thrown away unhygienically, with smell and animals. The advice: wash thoroughly after peeling, ferment dough in clean basins and not on bare floors, collect the juice in a catchment pit, and bag and seal gari. Wastewater starch can be collected and sold.
• Peels. Dry peels are used as livestock feed or mulch. A Ghana trial on sheep found that sun-drying removed cyanide better than ensiling. A safe rate for goats and sheep was not found; the course rule is to feed only dried peels, mixed, never fresh or in large amounts, and to ask a vet or extension officer (not verified). Compost the rest: stack peels with dry leaves and soil, keep moist, turn weekly.
• Fibre and rejects. Dry and use like peels, or compost.

The law in plain words. The Environmental Protection Act, 2025 (Act 1124) was passed on 6 January 2025 and replaced the Environmental Protection Act, 1994 (Act 490); it also absorbed older laws such as Act 917 and the Pesticides Act, and the regulator is now the Environmental Protection Authority. On 8 January 2026 the regulator announced that it is an offence under Act 1124 and the Environmental Assessment Regulations 2025 (L.I. 2504) to run an undertaking without a valid environmental permit or licence, or with an expired one, and it started a nationwide compliance exercise. Separate Effluent Regulations 2025 (L.I. 2506) control discharges. Whether a small cassava processor needs a permit, in which category and at what fee, was not verified: ask the EPA office in Takoradi before you build, and write down what you are told.

Check yourself

1. Why must the plant layout run one way from wet to dry?
2. Name two things to check with the EPA before you build.
3. Why should dried peels, not fresh ones, go to livestock?

Competency standard

Range. Gari-based, flour-based or starch-based products for shops, bakers, schools, caterers and supermarkets. Evidence. Development record; specification sheet; costing; label draft; oral questions.

From idea to product: the six gates

1. Idea and customer. Who will buy it, who buys it now, and why would they switch? Visit the shelf or the baker.
2. Test batch. Make 2 to 5 kg in the clean area, following your HACCP table. Write the recipe and every weight.
3. Taste and use panel. Ask 15 to 20 people (include the buyer). Give each a scored form: appearance, smell, taste, texture, would you buy (1 to 5). Add the scores and divide by the number of tasters.
4. Shelf-life check. Seal samples as you will sell them, keep some in a cool dry place and some in warm conditions, and look at them every week for smell, mould, insects and colour. Record how long they stay good. Do not print a shelf life you have not tested.
5. Cost and price. Cost the recipe (see Unit 6) and set a price that pays for you.
6. Label and registration. Draft the label, then take it to the FDA (see Unit 4).

Product ideas with a Ghana record: flavoured gari mixes (gari with wheat, soya, groundnut or ginger) made at a cassava centre at Alloapkoke in Ellembelle, reported in 2020; the centre's current status was not verified. For flour, Ghana tests found up to 20% HQCF acceptable in sugar bread and 10% in tea bread, and a 1-to-4 mix of HQCF to wheat was rated well by 1,497 senior high school students. Do not teach a "cassava tempura" recipe: it was not found as a documented Ghana process (not verified).

Standards: what the numbers are

The Codex standard for gari (CXS 151-1989) is the best written text we have. It sets moisture at a maximum of 12.0%. Its annex also gives total acidity of at least 0.6% as lactic acid, crude fibre of at most 2% and ash of at most 2.75%, but the annex layout is jumbled in the copy I read, so verify those values in the standard itself. The label name must be "gari" and non-retail containers must show product name, lot identification, and the name and address of the maker or packer. Sacks must be clean, sturdy and strongly sewn or sealed.

For edible cassava flour, a secondary source gives moisture of at most 13% and total cyanide of 10 mg/kg; the primary text of CXS 176-1989 was not read, so treat both as not verified. Importing countries can set their own limits for bitter-cassava flour.

The Ghana Standards Authority holds the Ghana standards; it listed 3,356 standards in its catalogue, including cassava chips, but I could not find the gari or cassava flour standard number or limits. Ask GSA at gsadir@gsa.gov.gh or gsanep@gsa.gov.gh. The Ghana Cassava Centre of Excellence planned codes of practice for gari, flour and other products.

Write a specification sheet

A buyer wants a one-page specification. Fill in from your own tested batches:

Supplying a big buyer

Bakers, caterers, schools, chop bars, supermarkets and starch users want the same bag every month, delivered when promised. A supermarket may ask for an FDA registration, a label, a laboratory report and an invoice; bakers ask mainly for consistency and price. Specific Takoradi buyers were not found (not verified); your homework in this unit is to find three.

How to win and keep one:

1. Visit with a 1 kg sample and the specification sheet. Ask what they need, how often, in what pack, and how they pay.
2. Quote a price per kg with the delivery cost shown separately. Put the offer in writing.
3. Agree the payment term. Many big buyers pay after 30 days; ask for a deposit if the order is large.
4. Deliver on time with a delivery note and an invoice. Keep the buyer's signed copy.
5. Test every lot before you send it. One bad lot costs the buyer's trust, and it is easier to lose a customer than to find one.
6. Withholding tax may be deducted from your payment: goods 3%, works 5%, services 7.5% for amounts over the thresholds, and withholding VAT agents withhold 7% of taxable value. Ask the payer on what basis, and always collect the withholding certificate. Whether and how it can be credited against your own tax was not verified.

Export basics

Exporting is a later step. Learn the order of the road so that you do not waste time:

1. Register the business (ORC), get a TIN from GRA and register as an exporter with the Ghana Export Promotion Authority (GEPA); the relevant permit-issuing agency inspects your premises and reports to GEPA.
2. Food exports need the FDA to register the product and a food-safety system such as HACCP; for each consignment the permit-issuing agency tests samples, inspects the shipment and issues an export consignment certificate.
3. Some products also need a phytosanitary certificate from the Plant Protection and Regulatory Services Directorate (PPRSD) or a certificate of origin. Whether processed gari needs a PPRSD certificate or an FDA export permit was not verified; the sources describe fresh produce and general food. Ask the FDA (fda@fda.gov.gh) and PPRSD in writing.
4. The buyer's country sets its own limits, including cyanide limits for cassava flour. Ask the importer for the import permit requirements before you pack.
5. The Made-in-Ghana mark of the Ghana Standards Authority (GSA) needs a combined application, annual user licence and marking fee in bands by company size: micro GH¢3,000 to 4,900, small 5,000 to 9,900, medium 10,000 to 19,900, large 25,000 and above. Confirm the current fee with GSA, because the page I read did not explain which fee each band covers.
6. Ghana EXIM Bank lists SME and export facilities, with an office in Takoradi.

Check yourself

1. What are the six gates a new product passes?
2. Why should a big buyer's payment term worry you more than their price?
3. Name two bodies you must ask before you export gari.

Competency standard

Range. A processor with 3 to 20 workers, many of them casual. Evidence. Compliance calendar; staff rota; shift briefing; training record; oral questions.

The FDA route for a food processor

The FDA registers the premises and the product. For small-scale and cottage processors it runs a Progressive Licensing Scheme in three stages (pink level 1, yellow level 2, green level 3) after inspection of good manufacturing practice. Its fees: the FDA Fee Schedule under L.I. 2481 (2023) lists a label evaluation of GH¢200 per product per variant, and an annual charge for locally made food products of GH¢100 (micro), 200 (small), 300 (medium) or 500 (large). The same schedule lists licensing or relicensing of a manufacturing or storage facility at GH¢100, a GMP inspection (local small-scale food line) at GH¢200, and a food distribution van licence at GH¢60. Older price lists show different figures (for example GH¢150, 450, 600 and 900) and are superseded; if the FDA gives you a different figure, believe the FDA officer and write down the date.

To register a locally made product, the FDA asks for the business registration certificate, a certificate of analysis for each product and variant, the label, the facility fee, samples (two units or mock-ups with a model label), claims proof and bound documents, finished within three months; a facility licence comes first. The FDA's premium service charges three times the regular fee and promises 15 working days for new low-risk food products, but products that need laboratory confirmation and site verification fall outside it. Standard processing times were reported inconsistently, so ask the FDA for the current one.

Year-one FDA cost, worked example. A small processor with three product variants: facility licence 100 + GMP inspection 200 + label evaluation 3 × 200 = 600 + annual charge (small) 200 = GH¢1,100. If the FDA classes you as micro, the annual charge is 100 and the total is GH¢1,000. Laboratory analysis fees are extra (not verified).

Warning on adulterated oil. The FDA found Sudan dye in 24.44% of palm oil samples in 2024, and there is no safe level. Buy oil only from a trusted supplier and keep the invoice.

GSA and the Made-in-Ghana mark

GSA writes Ghana standards and certifies products. For the Made-in-Ghana mark, the applicant must be registered with the Registrar General, hold a licence from its main regulator and a GSA product certificate, and have a management system (HACCP for food) that GSA can assess. The fee bands are in Unit 3. The mark is optional for the local market; it helps for supermarkets and exports.

EPA, fire and local rules

Return to Unit 2: ask the Environmental Protection Authority whether you need a permit and what discharges are allowed. Ask the Ghana National Fire Service about a fire certificate for the premises, and have extinguishers serviced only by a licensed contractor; see the hub's Workplace Safety Level 3. Ask the Assembly for your business operating permit (see Unit 5) and the Municipal Health Directorate whether food handlers need a medical check (not verified).

Labour law in a processing unit

Use the Labour Act 2003. A written contract for work of six months or more (s.12); a written statement of terms within two months (s.13); 15 working days of paid leave (s.20); 12 weeks of maternity leave (s.57); casual workers are paid the full minimum for each day worked (s.74). The daily minimum wage is GH¢21.77 for 2026. Employers must report workplace accidents and diseases within seven days, and injured workers, including casual workers, are compensated whoever was at fault. Register permanent workers with SSNIT. Women do most grating, peeling and roasting in the gari value chain, and the work is heavy and smoky; pay fairly and protect them.

Supervising staff: a plain method

A supervisor's job is to get the same quality from different people on different days.

1. Brief every shift (5 minutes). Today's target, who does what, one safety point, one quality point (for example "moisture test every batch").
2. Show, watch, correct. Demonstrate a task once, let the worker do it while you watch, correct kindly and at once, then check again later. Train every new worker in hygiene first: clean clothes, head cover, no jewellery, short nails, soap handwashing.
3. Give each worker one clear job and one person to ask. Rotate heavy tasks such as roasting to reduce strain.
4. Check with records. Look at the batch card, not only the product.
5. Handle mistakes fairly. Find out why before you blame; retrain first; give a written warning before a serious step; keep a record. Notice rules are in the Labour Act (s.17).
6. Thank people. Reliable workers are worth more than the machine.
7. Hand over. The end-of-shift note says what was made, what was held, what broke and what is owed.

The compliance calendar

Build one wall calendar and review it every week: SSNIT by the 14th; PAYE and withholding tax by the 15th; VAT by the last working day if registered; provisional tax quarterly for companies; annual return within four months of year-end; STMA permit by 31 March; ORC annual return and renewal yearly; FDA annual charge and renewal when due; extinguisher service when due. Add the dates the FDA, GSA and EPA give you.

Check yourself

1. Which two things does the FDA register, and which comes first?
2. How much is the label evaluation per product variant?
3. By what date each month are PAYE and SSNIT due?

Competency standard

Range. A gari, or gari-and-flour, unit of 1 to 5 t of roots a day, run by one owner, partners or a group, in Sekondi-Takoradi or nearby. Evidence. Registration checklist; start-up budget; finance plan; one-page business plan.

Choose a legal form

Annual returns cost GH¢175 a year, with late fees of GH¢1,000 (1 to 4 years) or GH¢2,000 (5 years or more). For a first unit, a sole proprietor or a partnership is simplest. Move to a company when you take large contracts, want to take on investors or want to limit your personal risk. A women's processing group can start as a partnership, or a cooperative if you can confirm the route. A ten-member women's cooperative in northern Ghana bought cassava from farmers and sold gari; the Alloapkoke centre in Ellembelle was a shared-centre model.

Registration, step by step

1. Choose a name and register it at the Office of the Registrar of Companies (ORC), on the website or by the USSD code *222#.
2. Get your tax identity. Your Ghana Card PIN is your individual TIN. A company gets a GRA TIN after ORC registration.
3. Get the business operating permit from your Assembly. In Sekondi-Takoradi the STMA portal is tcc.stma.gov.gh; fees follow the Assembly's fee-fixing resolution and the permit is renewed each year (the deadline used in this course is 31 March; confirm with the Assembly).
4. FDA facility licence, then product registration: see Unit 4. Plan about GH¢1,100 in year one for three variants.
5. EPA. Ask whether a permit is needed (Unit 2).
6. Fire certificate from the Ghana National Fire Service (see the hub's Workplace Safety Level 3).
7. GSA Made-in-Ghana mark: optional, see Units 3 and 4.
8. Register workers with SSNIT when you hire.
9. Open a business bank or mobile money account, separate from your personal one.

Tax. A resident who has only business income and is not VAT-registered may use the Modified Taxation Scheme: fixed instalments up to GH¢20,000 turnover and 3% of turnover from GH¢20,001 to GH¢750,000 (the ceiling was raised from GH¢500,000 by the Income Tax (Amendment) Act 2026, Act 1178, and the GRA page still showed the old figure on 8 Oct 2026); partners and owners of several outlets are excluded. Companies pay 25% standard, 18.5% for manufacturers in regional capitals other than Accra and Tema (which applies to Takoradi), 12.5% outside regional capitals, and 8% for non-traditional exporters; confirm with GRA which applies to you. Value Added Tax (Act 1151) applies from 1 January 2026: the registration threshold for goods is GH¢750,000 of turnover, and a VAT-registered business cannot use the Modified Taxation Scheme. Whether gari or flour is VAT-exempt was not verified; ask GRA in writing.

Premises and location

Choose a place that has: clean water; drainage; reliable power or a plan for it; road access for roots in and gari out; space for a one-way layout (Unit 2); and cassava within a short trip, because roots rot in 24 to 48 hours. A rented room with a concrete floor can start a small unit; a processor with a long lease invests in tiling and drainage. Get a written tenancy agreement with the rent, term and who pays for repairs. Check that the land is not under dispute before you build on it. Neighbours matter: smoke, smell and juice cause complaints.

Equipment and start-up budget

Equipment prices need three quotes (Unit 2). Use the Jiji listings only as a rough guide.

Example start-up budget (invented numbers except where a listing is named):

The FDA and permit line is 130 (name) + 300 (permit, example) + 100 + 200 + 600 + 200 = 1,330.

Financing

Own savings; a susu or village savings and loan (VSLA) group; microfinance; bank loans. The Ghana Enterprises Agency (GEA) offers SME GO, Business-in-a-Box, SME High Growth and Kaizen, with Business Advisory Centres in Takoradi, Shama, Effia-Kwesimintsim, Mpohor and Ahanta West. GIRSAL gives guarantees for agricultural loans through about 40 partner lenders; ask whether processing qualifies. Ghana EXIM Bank lists SME and export facilities. The 2026 Budget set aside GH¢401 million for a Women's Development Bank, GH¢170 million for the National Apprenticeship Programme and GH¢160 million for Adwumawura. The Assemblies' disability fund can help persons with disabilities; the 2026 rate was not verified, so ask the Assembly. Start cheap, borrow only when sales are clear, and show the lender your cash book (Unit 6).

Hire and protect

Use the Labour Act points in Unit 4. Pay at least GH¢21.77 a day in 2026. SSNIT: employee 5.5% and employer 13% of basic pay, paid by the employer within 14 days after month-end; PAYE by the 15th. Give apprentices a written agreement and teach hygiene and safety first.

Insurance. Use only insurers licensed by the National Insurance Commission; check at nic.gov.gh. Ask about cover for fire, stock and machinery; which covers are compulsory for a small firm was not verified.

Market yourself

A WhatsApp Business profile with a product catalogue and price list, a free Google Business Profile with your location and photos, a clear sign, clean branded sacks and sachets, free samples to bakers and caterers, and referrals from happy buyers. Keep a portfolio: photos of your clean plant, your FDA registration (once issued) and your laboratory report.

Accessibility

The Persons with Disability Act 2006 (Act 715) requires accessible public places and bans job discrimination. In a cassava unit, many tasks are workable for persons with disabilities with the right set-up: sorting, washing, sieving seated at a table, packing, labelling, sealing, record-keeping, selling and delivery by phone. Heavy peeling and roasting are less workable, but a lighter load, a seated work table, a ramp at the door and a clear path help (inference; no Ghana source found). Offer large-print and picture instructions, and ask the worker which adjustment helps.

One-page plan and pitch

Fit on one page: customers and product; price and costs; location and layout; equipment and start-up cost; finance; licences and dates; people; monthly break-even; 12-month cash forecast (Unit 7); risks and what you will do about them.

Check yourself

1. What is the cost of registering a sole-proprietor business name in 2026?
2. Which comes first, the FDA facility licence or product registration?
3. What is the difference between a sole proprietor and a company in risk?

Competency standard

Range. A gari processor with casual workers, one permanent worker and credit customers. Evidence. Cash book; stock card; costing sheet; month-end pack; payroll.

The core rule

Assets = Liabilities + Equity. Debits increase assets and expenses; credits increase liabilities, capital and income; the trial balance checks that total debits equal total credits but cannot catch every error. Keep owner money and business money apart: pay yourself a fixed drawing and write it down.

Daily and weekly records

• Cash book: every receipt and payment in date order, with a running balance.
• Receipts and invoices: number them in order; keep copies. An invoice shows the date, buyer, product, kg, price per kg, total and payment term. Sign and date a receipt.
• Petty cash: a small float with a voucher for every spend; top up to the same amount. Example: float GH¢200; vouchers 45 + 30 + 60 = 135; cash left 65; top up GH¢135 to return to 200.
• Stock cards for roots, packaging and gari (in, out, balance).
• Debtors and creditors: a list of who owes you and whom you owe, with due dates.
• Ledger: the cash-book entries sorted by account (roots, labour, fuel, sales...) so you can see each total.

Stock card for gari (example month).

Raw-material costing and yield

Raw material is most of the cost, so cost per kg of gari is driven by two numbers: the price of roots and your yield.

Example month (example numbers). Roots 20,000 kg at GH¢1.20 per kg. A wholesale rural cassava price of about GH¢1,175 per tonne was reported for 2021, which is dated, so collect your own price this week. Gari produced: 4,800 kg, so yield = 4,800 ÷ 20,000 = 24%; the 4-to-1 teaching ratio gives 25% and a 1990 Ghana unit gave 28%.

Cost per kg = 29,600 ÷ 4,800 = GH¢6.17. (The per-kg column adds to 6.17 after rounding.)

Yield is the lever. One percentage point of yield on 20,000 kg of roots is 200 kg of gari. At an average price of about GH¢9.17 per kg that is roughly GH¢1,830 a month, with almost no extra cost. Under-pressing, burning and spillage cost you real money; Unit 1's yield record is accounting, not just quality.

Cost of goods sold, margin, mark-up and break-even

Cost of goods sold (COGS) is the cost of what you actually sold. With no opening stock: COGS = production cost × (kg sold ÷ kg produced). Here 4,500 kg were sold and 300 kg remain in stock: COGS = 29,600 × 4,500 ÷ 4,800 = 27,750, and closing stock = 29,600 − 27,750 = 1,850 (300 × 6.17, rounded). Stock stays an asset until it is sold.

• Mark-up = profit ÷ cost. Margin = profit ÷ selling price. A bag costing 240 and sold at 300: profit 60; mark-up 25%; margin 20%.
• Break-even (in kg) = monthly fixed costs ÷ contribution per kg, where contribution = price − variable cost per kg.
• Depreciation (straight line) = (cost − salvage) ÷ useful life.

Wages, SSNIT and PAYE

For the permanent supervisor on GH¢1,500 gross (example): employee SSNIT 5.5% = 82.50; taxable pay = 1,500 − 82.50 = 1,417.50. PAYE on the 2026 bands: first 588 at 0% = 0; next 80 at 5% = 4; next 100 at 10% = 10; the remaining 1,417.50 − 768 = 649.50 at 17.5% = 113.66; total PAYE = 127.66. Net pay = 1,500 − 82.50 − 127.66 = 1,289.84. Employer SSNIT 13% = 195. Total cost to the business = 1,500 + 195 = 1,695. Owed to SSNIT = 82.50 + 195 = 277.50; owed to GRA = 127.66; together 405.16, due by the 14th and 15th of next month. Casual workers are paid the full day's minimum for each day they work.

Month-end routine

1. Total the cash book and agree the closing balance with the cash in hand and the MoMo or bank balance.
2. Reconcile the bank and mobile-money statements to the cash book and list every difference.
3. Count the gari and packaging stock and update the stock cards. List debtors and creditors.
4. Make a trial-style check: total debits equal total credits.
5. Write the income statement: sales minus cost of goods sold minus overheads equals profit.
6. Write a simple balance sheet: what you own and what you owe.
7. Write next month's cash forecast, pay the 14th and 15th obligations, and file the records in order.

Example month: the full pack

Opening position (example): cash GH¢30,000; equipment at cost GH¢24,500 (grater 8,000 + press 10,500 + roasting pans and stove 6,000); owner's capital GH¢54,500.

Sales: 3,000 kg for cash at GH¢9.00 = 27,000; 1,500 kg on credit to a supermarket at GH¢9.50 = 14,250 (payable in 30 days). Total sales = 41,250.

Cash book summary for the month.

Income statement.

Depreciation: grater (8,000 − 800) ÷ 5 years = 1,440 a year = 120 a month; press (10,500 − 1,050) ÷ 5 = 1,890 a year = 157.50 a month; stove and pans (6,000 − 600) ÷ 4 = 1,350 a year = 112.50 a month. Salvage values and lives are examples.

Balance sheet at month end.

Trial-style check. Debits: cash 20,060.16 + debtors 14,250 + stock 1,850 + prepaid 1,008 + equipment 24,500 + drawing 3,000 + COGS 27,750 + rent 1,200 + salary 1,500 + employer SSNIT 195 + transport 600 + phone 150 + depreciation expense 390 + licence expense 92 = 96,545.16. Credits: capital 54,500 + sales 41,250 + accumulated depreciation 390 + owed to GRA and SSNIT 405.16 = 96,545.16. They agree.

Profit is not cash. Net profit was GH¢9,373, but cash fell from 30,000 to 20,060.16, a drop of 9,939.84. The reconciliation: 9,373 profit + 390 depreciation (not a cash cost) + 405.16 owed but not yet paid − 14,250 customers who have not paid − 1,850 gari still in stock − 1,008 licences paid in advance − 3,000 drawing = −9,939.84. A profitable month that ends with less cash is normal when you sell on credit and hold stock; that is why a cash-flow forecast is part of Unit 7.

Break-even. Fixed costs = rent 1,200 + supervisor 1,695 + transport 600 + phone 150 + depreciation 390 + licences 92 = 4,127. Average selling price = 41,250 ÷ 4,500 = 9.17; variable cost per kg = 6.17 (the production cost per kg, treating roots, labour, fuel, power and packaging as variable). Contribution = 9.17 − 6.17 = 3.00 per kg. Break-even = 4,127 ÷ 3.00 = about 1,376 kg a month, against 4,500 kg sold. Margin of profit = 9,373 ÷ 41,250 = 22.7%. A Kumasi study of 46 gari producers reported a profit margin of 22% and return on capital of 29%; your example is not a prediction, but it shows the order of size.

Tax in the example

If this were a sole proprietor on the Modified Taxation Scheme, turnover for the year (41,250 × 12 = 495,000) is within the GH¢20,001 to 750,000 band, so tax is 3% of turnover: GH¢1,237.50 for this month's sales. For the VAT threshold on goods (GH¢750,000) 495,000 is below the line. If it were a company, annual profit before tax of about 112,476 (9,373 × 12, illustration only) would be taxed at 18.5%, 12.5% or 25% depending on location and the GRA rule that applies: about 20,808, 14,060 or 28,119. Ask a tax adviser or GRA which applies to your unit. Keep records in Ghana for at least six years from the end of the year of assessment or VAT period.

Free tools. Excel or Google Sheets, Zoho Books free plan (one user plus an accountant, 1,000 invoices a year, revenue under US$50,000) and Wave (summary only). From 1 January 2027 the 2025 edition of IFRS for SMEs applies to companies that use it.

Check yourself

1. Write the accounting equation.
2. Why can a month show a profit while cash falls?
3. How long must records be kept?

Competency standard

Range. A cassava processing business plan. Evidence. One-page plan; 12-month forecast; panel score sheet.

Quality systems and customer care

• Monthly internal audit: pick a day, walk the line with your HACCP table, check records, and write three findings and actions.
• Complaint log: date, batch number, complaint, action, reply within two days (good practice).
• Supplier selection: note which farmers' roots give the best yield and the fewest rejects. Pay on time to keep the best roots coming.
• Yield and loss review each week. Quality that repeats is quality you can sell.
• Customer care: deliver on time, keep the pack the same, say if you will be late, and thank regular buyers.

Pricing strategy

Price from cost and from the market, not from fear. Three views: cost-plus (cost per kg plus a margin that covers overhead and profit), competitor (what buyers pay now) and value (what a clean, FDA-registered, consistent product is worth to a supermarket or baker). Cassava is seasonal and prices rise in shortages: in 2024, traders in Koforidua reported that a cassava shortage pushed gari prices up. Write a seasonal plan: buy and dry more when cassava is cheap, adjust prices in advance, and keep a contract clause for large root-price changes.

Scaling: what to do next

1. Raise yield and cut waste (Unit 1 and Unit 2) before you spend on machines.
2. Second shift on the same machines.
3. Add a product line, such as high quality cassava flour for bakers (drying and milling equipment needed; Source: IITA-ProPAS-HQCF) or flavoured gari (Unit 3).
4. Add storage and a vehicle.
5. Open a second outlet only when the first runs well without you.

Partnerships, contracts and tenders

• Group models. A shared processing centre, a pooled root-buying group, or one brand and one FDA registration for several women's groups. The Alloapkoke cassava centre in Ellembelle, supported by GEOP with Christian Aid and the EU, is a documented example, though its current status was not verified.
• Out-growers and aggregators. Agree price, quantity, quality and payment dates in writing with farmers.
• Written contracts: scope, price per kg, quantity, delivery dates, payment terms, quality specification, rejection rules, who pays transport, and how either side ends it.
• Government and institution tenders. Public buyers use procurement rules, and bigger firms may ask for tax clearance, insurance and proof of qualification; the exact rules were not verified, so ask the Public Procurement Authority and the buyer. Prepare a company profile, TIN, ORC certificate, FDA registration, laboratory report and three references.
• Aggregation. If you cannot fill an order alone, partner with another processor and share the brand, the batch codes and the quality checks.
• Capacity programmes. The Ghana Cassava Centre of Excellence planned codes of practice and training, and Western Region held a three-month cassava value chain training in 2016 with about 150 processors; ask MoFA what is current.

Records for a loan

Lenders ask for registration documents, TIN, the FDA certificate, six to twelve months of cash book and MoMo statements, a costing sheet, the 12-month forecast and a list of equipment. Tidy books are your best collateral.

Succession and ethics

Write your procedures down so the business runs when you are away, name who takes over if you are ill, and keep key documents in a folder two people know about. Ethics: never shorten fermentation or pressing to save time, because short-cut processing is linked to konzo; never add dye or use oil you cannot trace; never sell a batch that failed its test; never print a claim, certificate or registration number you do not hold; pay workers on time and at least the minimum.

Capstone: the 12-month cash-flow forecast

Fill one row per month: opening cash, receipts, payments, closing cash. Use example numbers in training and your own real ones in your plan.

Worked example (example numbers). Opening cash GH¢8,000. Receipts: 70% of the month's sales in cash, 30% the next month; a loan of GH¢15,000 received in month 6. Payments: variable cost 67% of sales (after yield improvement), fixed costs GH¢4,200, owner drawing GH¢3,000; month 7 buys a second press and roaster for GH¢15,000; loan repayments of GH¢1,400 a month from month 7.

Month 1 receipts are only the 70% cash part, because there is no earlier month's credit to collect; month 6 is a rainy-season dip with a loan arriving; month 7 shows the equipment purchase. Check every month where closing cash falls below zero and plan a fix: delay a purchase, collect a debt, buy roots in smaller lots, or borrow a small amount. This forecast is an example, not a promise.

Panel scoring (20 marks each): customer and product; legal route and compliance (including FDA, EPA, GSA and tax); money (start-up, costing, break-even, forecast); food safety and ethics; clarity and answers to questions. Competent: at least 60 of 100 with no zero in food safety and ethics (author's rule).

Check yourself

1. Give one reason a profitable business can still run out of cash.
2. Name two things a written contract with a big buyer should say.
3. Name one ethical rule that protects consumers from cyanide harm.

1. Name two critical control points on a gari line.
2. What is the Codex maximum moisture for gari?
3. How much gari should 8,000 kg of roots give at the 4-to-1 teaching ratio, and how do you calculate yield?
4. Why must the wet and dry areas of a plant be separate?
5. What may a processor do with peels, and what must be done first?
6. Which Act replaced the Environmental Protection Act, 1994?
7. What is the FDA annual charge for a small locally made food processor?
8. By what day of the month are PAYE and SSNIT due?
9. What does it cost to register a sole-proprietor business name in 2026?
10. A bag costs GH¢240 and sells for GH¢300. Give the mark-up and the margin.
11. Why can profit be positive while cash falls?
12. How long must business records be kept?

What this module does not cover: a laboratory or HACCP certificate; the Ghana Standards Authority gari and flour limits (not found); current FDA label rules and the full EPA permit categories for processors (not verified); GH¢ prices of machines and HQCF (listings only, undated); export rules for gari (not verified).

Every source used in this manual is listed, with links, in the Teacher Copy.