Unlocking Cassava Potentials for Sustainable Devt
By Taye Babaleye
No doubt, better days are here for cassava farmers and other stakeholders. The cassava wave, like wild fire, is catching on everybody because President Olusegun Obasanjo, himself a farmer, has taken the lead by establishing the Presidential Initiative on Cassava Development.
Speaking with all seriousness, President Obasanjo has demonstrated that cassava is certainly being staked to become a national food in Nigeria, while its hidden lucrative qualities are being gradually uncovered.
Part of the crusade and the on-going effort to popularize the crop was a two-day Cassava Stakeholders� Forum and Exhibition held at the Banquet Hall of the State House, Abuja during 7th and 8th June, 2004. The exhibition was a major eye opener to those who doubt that cassava is no longer a poor mans� crop. Rather, it is a crop destined to emancipate the poor masses of this country from poverty.
Organized by the Presidential Committee on Cassava Export Promotion, the two-day Forum was aimed at providing opportunities for stakeholders to make inputs into cassava development and export. The Forum was also planned to allow participants interact and develop business opportunities in the cassava industry with a view to making cassava products competitive within Nigeria, and in the international markets. It was an occasion to sensitize the stakeholders to discover further characteristics of cassava as an export commodity and cash crop.
The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) joined other national and international organizations to exhibit food and industrial products and publications at the forum. IITA Director General, Peter Hartmann was represented on the occasion by Dr. Victor Manyong, IITA Agricultural Economist, who welcomed President Obasanjo to the Institute�s exhibition pavilion and presented new cassava products and recent IITA publications on cassava industrial development data in the country to the President.
But why cassava? Why the sudden interest in the crop? Speaking last November at a gathering of cassava farmers, researchers, and industrialists during a workshop on �Cassava Competitiveness in Nigeria�, Chief Audu Ogbeh, National Chairman of the ruling Peoples� Democratic Party (PDP), gave a scenario of the import oriented economy of the country, a situation which puts the country at the mercy of foreign countries, and which does not augur well for development. He said that Nigeria was spending about US$700 million annually on rice importation, and the same amount on the importation of maize. He said the import bills of tooth picks was US$13 million, adding that the trend must change. �Nigeria cannot remain an import-oriented country�, he said.
To change the trend, the Obasanjo administration has found solace in the development of cassava for export. Speaking further at that workshop, Chief Audu Ogbeh among other things, extolled the virtues of cassava as food security and income generating crop for rural dwellers in Nigeria. He said the crop must be developed to earn good foreign exchange as an export commodity to justify Nigeria�s position as the leading cassava producer in the world. The PDP Chairman said there was demand for 20million tonnes of cassava pellets in Europe, and charged Nigerian industrialists to take advantage of the available technologies in research institutes and use cassava to turn around the fortunes of Nigeria and make the country export oriented. He said that the commodity should be made competitive so that Nigerian cassava can hit world market in no distant future.
Last week�s Cassava Stakeholders Forum held at the Aso Rock Villa was another positive step in the campaign to make the crop attain the expected status of export commodity, while generating income for farmers, processors, industrialists and cassava exporters. Apart from directly supervising the Presidential Initiative on Cassava to ensure its success, President Obasanjo is leaving no stone unturned to unlock the potentials of the crop for sustainable economic development in the country.
Speaking as the Guest of Honor at the Forum, President Obasanjo urged the participants to maximize cassava production, processing and industrial utilization, to create employment opportunities and improve the living standards of Nigerians. He said �for too long, Nigeria has groped in the dark looking for alternatives to petroleum as foreign exchange earner�. He added that with the tremendous potentials of cassava as raw material for industries, Nigeria must use what it has to get what it needs.
�As the leading world producer of cassava, we must be ready to harness the potentials of cassava for poverty alleviation by maximizing its utilization for industrial development and export�, said President Obasanjo. Warning the participants to avoid bureaucracy in handling issues involved in industrial utilization and export of cassava products, President Obasanjo remarked that �we cannot afford to waste too much time�. He added that Nigeria is a country in a hurry. �We are more interested in the practical end results of this forum rather than mere paper work of un-ending reports capable of frustrating investors in the industries, he said
Earlier in his opening speech, the Chairman of the Forum, Vice Admiral Murtala Nyako (rtd), called on the government to create an enabling environment for farmers and industrialists to collaborate and lift cassava production and utilization to greater heights. He said relevant incentives should be given farmers and industrialists alike, to expand their capacities.
In his address, Ambassador Idris Waziri, Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Cassava Export, called for the establishment of an association of cassava processors, industrialists and exporters. He said the association should as a matter of urgency, work out a plan of action to facilitate massive cassava production this planting season, so that local industries will have adequate raw materials for their products especially where cassava has relative economic advantage over other imported raw materials, especially wheat flour and ethanol.
The second day of the forum featured group discussions in three separate plenary sessions. Recommendations with specific mandates for stakeholders were later collated by a committee and read to the general house for adoption. The three major sessions discussed the challenges of cassava production, processing and utilization, and suggested solutions both for immediate and long term actions. While Professor Malachi Akoroda of IITA led a team in the discussion on cassava production, Dr. Busie Maziya-Dixon, IITA Food Technologist co-ordinated the product exhibition at the IITA stand which attracted a lot of visitors and dignitaries including policy makers, industrialists and peer scientists. Participants recommended that cassava products be standardized to attract competitive local and international market prices. A high standard of packaging of products was also recommended.
More than 300 participants including 25 private companies, displayed several cassava products. Research institutes and government agencies also displayed various cassava products, among them, packaged fast foods, small and medium scale industrial machines. Large posters and banners illustrating flow charts of products, as well as video programs explaining the process of manufacturing some cassava products were on display.
The Hon. Ministers of Science and Technology, Agriculture and Rural Development, Industries and Commerce were all in attendance. Some of them made short presentations on the relevance of cassava to the industrial development of the country. Representatives of the Small and Medium Scale Industrial Enterprises, (SMIE) Export Promotion Council (EPC), NAFDAC, NSO, Plant Quarantine, NEXIM and Bank of Industry (BOI), Agricultural Cooperative, and Rural Development Bank (NACDB) were also in attendance. In addition, the Federal Industrial Research Institute, Oshodi (FIIRO), and the Raw Materials Research and Development Council also exhibited products.
The private sector representatives include starch and glucose manufacturers, ethanol producing companies, feed millers, catering and bakeries, pharmaceutical companies, equipment manufacturers, farmers� associations and cassava exporters.
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