The Federal Institute of Industrial Research,
Oshodi (FIIRO), is embarking on a nation-wide, demonstration of a 10 per
cent cassava flour composite in bread baking.
The move is to reduce the importation of wheat
flour and save foreign exchange.
The Director General of FIIRO, Dr Oluwole
Olatunji told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos on Monday that with
the renewed interest in cassava exports by the federal government and
increased funding, the future of cassava substitution, �is enormous.�
He said that FIIRO had already begun the
nation-wide demonstration of 10 per cent cassava flour composite in bread
baking to bakers and millers across the country to reduce the importation of
wheat flour.
He said the potentials of cassava substitution
was very high as its relevant utilisation would benefit the economy by
generating employment.
According to him, the institute had in the past
pioneered the production of industrial cassava into starch, pharmaceutical
products and the production of glucose from cassava sugar.
�The quantity of industrial starch imported
into the country is so much, this has to be reduced to save our hard earned
foreign exchange,�� he said.
Olatunji said that apart from cassava bread,
FIIRO was also embarking on research on the total utilisation of all parts
of cassava - the leaves, a high source of protein would be used to enrich
staple food,
He said the stem of cassava could be used for
pulp and paper and as fuel, while the peel provide the environment for
growing mushroom.
He added that the mushroom could be processed
into fertilizer.
�These are interesting findings that we are
working on seriouly and we are getting the desired results,�� he said.
He disclosed that the ability to keep cassava
for up to six months as dried chips was another research done by the
institute as the lack of storage facilities had been a
serious problem for farmers.
Olatunji explained that the institute had been
collaborating with SMEs associations such as the Nigerian Association of
Small Scale Industrialists (NASSI) and the Nigerian Association of Small and
Medium Scale Enterprises (NASME) to train them to enable them use the
researches for their production.
He said that the institute�s analytical section
also helped to develop these researches to a stage that would ensure quality
assurance of their products.
�These SMEs cannot afford to develop these
researches but the large scale businesses do because some of them have their
own research departments,�� he said.
