The President, National Association of Nigerian Traders (NANT), Mr Ken Ukaoha, has called on the Federal Government to provide adequate budgetary allocation for cassava flour millers.

Ukaoha made the call at a news conference on the occasion of the presentation of a publication on the “Assessment of Nigeria’s Cassava Bread Initiative’’ in Abuja.

He noted that the initiative, supported by the Federal Public Administration Reform Initiative, was one of the association’s agenda to “ensure that the economy is well groomed’’.

Ukaoha said that the cassava bread initiative was capable of reducing the massive importation of wheat, save foreign exchange, create jobs and reduce poverty among others.

The president, however, noted that development of dedicated cassava fund and other incentives for research and innovation was required for flour millers to enhance research in cassava content of composite flour.

He further called for a legislation to ensure the workability of the initiative, encourage and enhance the setting up of local cassava mills.

Ukaoha, however, lamented the logistic challenges facing farmers in the course of conveying their produce to the processing plants.

He stressed the need to assist farmers to achieve some level of processing to further reduce the water content of cassava which he described as over 60 per cent.

“The Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Research Institutes and the Nigerian Parliament must join efforts to formulate legislation and ensure adequate budgetary provisions for dedicated thematic research projects on inclusion of cassava in composite flour mix.

“In addition, the development of dedicated cassava fund and other incentives for research and innovation are required particularly for flour millers to enhance research in cassava content of composite flour.

“Government should intensify investment in research for the purpose of getting the best varieties of cassava most suited for bread making or wheat flour substitute.

“Increasing cassava productivity is the key to the success of the initiative.

“All efforts must be in place to encourage farmers to produce through the provision of micro-credit and several other kinds of assistance in order to increase domestic capacity of cassava production.

“The efforts will also help to meet the recent shift to the direction of industrial use of cassava products,’’ he said.

Ukaoha called for proper consultation with the real stakeholders in the cassava industry such as flour millers, bakers, the consumers and policy makers.

He said that this should be facilitated by government at all stages of the policy, “right from the point of formulation to implementation’’.