Business
Cassava: Nigeria To Save N315bn Annually
The Minister of Agricul
ture and Rural Development, Dr. Akinwunmi Adesina, has said that Nigeria stands the chance of saving over N315 billion annually if it produces 50 per cent cassava floor bread.
The minister, who stated this recently in Abuja while speaking to newsmen, said at the moment, the country imports wheat was worth N635 billion annually which he said hurts Nigeria’s foreign exchange and worsens the unemployment rate.
While presenting loaves baked by researchers from the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA) to the Federal Executive Council, the minister called on Nigerians to embrace the consumption of bread with cassava floor.
He said the inclusion of 50 per cent cassava floor bread production would drastically reduce imports of wheat by half.
According to him, apart from enhancing savings, it would also create jobs and encourage farmers to produce more.
He said the adoption of the policy compelling millions in the country to in corporate 10 per cent cassava flour into wheat flour in 2002 has made the federal government plan to double the current cassava production from 37 million tons.
He said “The critical areas government was focusing on were value addition to make production demand driven and the improvement of yield among others”.
He said with over 37 million tons of harvested fresh cassava roots per year, Nigeria was by far the largest cassava-producing country in the world.
Estimates are that between seven and eight million Nigerian farming families grow the tuber, he revealed.
The Agric minister said trainings for bakers have been done and some were still going on even as he said equipment for the production of High Quality Cassava Flour (HQCF) have been made available.
He further said corporate baker like UTC, Foods Concepts and Leventis were co-opted into flagging off production of cassava bread.
Meanwhile, the (NCAN) National President, Tola Feseru has said the association was already in advanced discussions with the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and Nigerian Expanded Trade and Transport (NEXTT) to provide evidence based advocacy to facilitate access to technical assistance to its members to strengthen their capacities.
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