Business
Cassava Bread Out Soon
Cassava bread would soon be in adequate supply, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr Akinwumi Adesina, has said in Abuja.
Adesina said that his optimism was based on the fact that government, in collaboration with the private sector, had started the training of master bakers to make them use the composite cassava flour.
The training is being carried out with support from the Cassava Bread Development Fund provided by the Federal Government.
Adesina said the challenge of local production of enzymes needed to make the cassava flour more attractive was also being addressed as a Nigerian company was working with a South African counterpart to produce the enzyme locally stressing that Nigeria currently imports the enzyme from South Africa.
“On the use of enzymes, the minister said you need to add what they call cassava enhancers to make the bread to rise and that is produced in South Africa and we’ve been importing it from South Africa.
“But we have put in place a plan; we are working right now with a company in Nigeria that is working with the South African company to produce the enzymes locally which means we are creating new jobs by doing that here for ourselves.’’
Dr. Adesina expressed optimism that Nigeria, the world’s largest cassava producer, could also become a leading processor of the crop.
The minister argued that since most African countries could not sustain their expenditure profile on wheat importation, they would ultimately resort to cassava flour, thereby making Nigeria a potential exporter of cassava products.
He explained that with the introduction of the 20 per cent inclusion of cassava flour into wheat flour for bread making, Nigeria had shown that cassava bread was marketable.
Adesina noted that this would help to create more jobs for the unemployed in the country while keeping the population healthier by eating cassava bread.
“Nigeria must be known to be a major player in what it is the largest producer of in the world. “We cannot be dependent on other people selling us wheat when we should be mixing it with our own cassava flour and making our farmers to make money. “That policy alone, to substitute at 20 per cent, will earn farmers in this country and processors N254 billion every year of money that we will save and put back into our rural communities.”
The minister said that the ministry was also working on how to get compact milling systems that could mix the composite flour into a standardised pre-mix that could be sold to the master bakers.
Adesina said that plans were underway to import700 compact mills fro cassava processing through the private sector.
Cornerstone of Financial Services
A survey of more than 1 000 global finance leaders undertaken by digital payment network Ripple shows that 72% of respondents believe they need to offer a digital asset solution to remain competitive.
According to Ripple, leaders from the banking, fintech, corporate and asset management sector have made it clear that the “digital asset revolution is happening now”.
“Digital assets are quickly becoming a cornerstone of financial services, underpinned by progressive regulation, growing interest from Tier-1 banks, a steady consumer shift from banks to fintech providers, and booming stablecoin adoption,” Ripple says.
The survey was conducted in early 2026 and the findings released in March.
Stablecoin Boon or Bane?
Ripple has experienced significant success in the stablecoin sector since launching its Ripple USD (RLUSD) stablecoin in 2024.
With a market cap of $1.56 billion, it is considered a major regulated player in the market.
No doubt the platform was pleased to learn through its own survey that financial leaders were most bullish about stablecoins.
Roughly three-quarters of respondents believed they could boost cash-flow efficiency and unlock trapped working capital.
Ripple noted that finance leaders were thinking about stablecoins as more than “just a new way to execute payments”; instead, they viewed them as effective tools for treasury management.
In March 2026, Ripple began testing a new trade finance model built around RLUSD in a bid to increase the speed of cross-border payments.
The pilot initiative, developed alongside supply chain finance company Unloq [https://unloq.com], is running on the XRP Ledger inside a testing framework developed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore.
The Asian city-state is one of the platform’s biggest growth markets.
The idea behind the project is to see whether stablecoin-based settlement can streamline trade finance, too often hampered by reliance on intermediaries and slow reconciliation.
The only potential drawback is that if the initiative takes off, the Ripple to USD price could be negatively affected.
Ripple has always championed its native XRP token as a bridge asset, the “middleman” in the process of a financial institution turning dollars in the US into pounds in the UK, for example.
Ripple converts dollars into XRP and then back into pounds.
If RLUSD can do exactly the same thing, questions will be asked about XRP’s relevance.
That is a bridge Ripple will have to cross if it gets to that point.
Tokenisation Partners
Another interesting finding from Ripple’s survey is that most banks and asset managers are seeking tokenisation partners to help execute their strategies.
Some 89% of respondents said digital asset storage and custody were top priority. “Token servicing/lifecycle management also ranks highly for banks at 82%, while asset managers place greater emphasis on primary distribution at 80%,” Ripple found.
The survey also revealed that just more than half of fintechs and financial institutions want an infrastructure provider that can offer a “one-stop-shop solution”. This rose to 71% among corporate financial leaders.
Ripple attributes this to institutions and firms wanting uncomplicated, cohesive systems.
Infrastructure Rules
In its final analysis, Ripple says companies across the board are looking for partners and solutions that are “secure, compliant, battle-tested and that enable growth and execution”.
“The message is clear: infrastructure decisions made today will shape competitive positioning tomorrow.”
No surprise that this is precisely where Ripple is placing much of its focus.
