Institute Tasks Bankers On Cassava Flour

The Federal Institute of Industrial Research, Oshodi (FIIRO), recently called on bread bakers to increase the use of cassava flour in their production to reduce the cost of bread.

FIIRO’s Director in charge of Department of Agriculture, Mr Jide Olumeko, made the call in Ibadan at a two-day training for South-West Master Bakers on 20 per cent high quality cassava flour in bread production.

Olumeko, represented by FIIRO’s Desk Officer for Cassava Value Chain, Mr Titus Efuntoye, said that the use of cassava flour would help the price of bread to fall by 65 per cent and boost foreign exchange.

He said that increased use of cassava flour would help bakeries to be in business due to lower cost of production and consumers in turn would have more bread to eat.

“Government is trying to ensure food security in the country hence the initiative. Importation of wheat is weighing heavily on government resources as we spend over N600 billion annually to import wheat.

“Efforts in research have discovered that we are able to substitute wheat flour with cassava flour which has a higher nutritional value than the former due to its lower glycerin index responsible for diabetes.

“Cassava flour will give you better quality bread at a cheaper rate, stay longer and save foreign exchange in wheat importation by 20 per cent,’’ Olumeko said.

The Vice Chairman, Association of Master Bakers and Caterers Alhaji Salaudeen Abolusodun, commended the initiative by FIIRO, saying that the members were ready to cooperate to help boost the economy.

“It is a very welcome initiative for us to see more support for the use of cassava flour in bread baking because it will definitely help improve on the price in the long run.

“Right now the cost of producing bread is high due to high cost of purchasing wheat flour. We hope to enter the era when 100 per cent cassava flour will be used to bake bread.

“Initially, it used to be 10 per cent mix adopted since 2005, but with the introduction of the 20 per cent mix of cassava flour, I can assure you the price of bread will drop,’’ Abolusodun said.

A total of 70 master bakers across the South western states and Kwara attended the training.