‘Cassava Bread Production Can Create 3m Jobs’

The Federal Institute of
Industrial Research in Oshodi (FIIRO) says the use of cassava flour for production of bread is capable of creating three million jobs within three years. A statement issued by FIIRO recently in Lagos quoted its Director-General, Dr Gloria Elemo, as making the assertion.
Elemo also appealed to the Federal Government to urgently address the issue of creation of enabling environment for the implementation of cassava inclusion in bread-making.
According to her, if this step is taken, an average of 25 bakeries will be established by entrepreneurs per local government area in Nigeria over a period of three years.
“ Cassava bread has high potential for job creation through processors and producers of high quality cassava flour, farmers, suppliers, bakers and researchers.
Many will take advantage of the new regime of incentives for bakers and processors on bakery equipment and reduced tariff on all equipment for processing of high quality cassava flour and flour blending. This implies that the cassava bread policy could lead to establishment of about 19,350 additional bakeries in all the 774 local government areas within the next three years.
With an average employment of seven workers per bakery, this implies that about 135,450 jobs can be created in these bakeries within the next three years.
“Considering a multiplier effect on the downstream industries, the cassava bread policy, if properly implemented, has the capacity to generate about three million jobs in three years,’’ She said.
The director general said that cassava was being cultivated in Nigeria mostly by peasant farmers with average land holding of less than two hectares.
She said that if an average land holding of two hectares was cultivated per farmer with an average national yield per hectare of 10.6 tonnes, then farmers could have an average output of 21.2 tonnes per annum.