The National President Cassava Growers Association, Pastor Segun Adewumi has said the efforts of the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr Akinwumi Adesina in revolutionising agriculture will save the Nigeria economy over 300billion annually.
According to him, “this was possible through the 20 per cent inclusion of high quality cassava flour and also because of the vast economic uses of the staple food (cassava)”.
According to him, “aside its domestic uses, cassava has several major industrial uses including ethanol, industrial starch, glucose syrup and sweeteners among others which can be used as raw materials for many utility items.”
He added that “the minister has not only revolutionised the agricultural sector but also restored the dignity of Nigerian farmers, bringing them to the limelight and to the attention of government, where previously it had been a master-servant relationship”.
He assured that “electing Akinwumi as the president of the African Development Bank (AfDB) will boost the continents agricultural sector and also restore the dignity of African farmers as a whole”.
Adewumi who made these revelations in an exclusive telephone interview with Leadership said “prior to the efforts of the minister, Nigeria had less than 1000 active cassava growers of which membership had increased to over 1.2million in the past three years”
Speaking on the many success of cassava growers through the minister, Adewumi disclosed that Akinwumi “has assisted over 8000 farmers to get loans from the Bank Of Agriculture (BOA), assisted us to get a grant for 29,500 hectares, allowed the farmers manage their own situations despite limiting government bureaucracy and is in the process of instituting a Cassava Development Commission.”
LEADERSHIP Sunday recalls that in a previous research conducted by the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture(IITA) and the Federal Institute for Industrial research (FIIRO) it was revealed that wheat flour can be replaced by 20 per cent high quality cassava flour(HQCF).
In the light of this the federal government launched a cassava transformation agenda in 2011 with an emphasis on import substitution, particularly to replace 20 per cent of the imported wheat for use in bread, confectionery and Pastas with cassava flour.
The minister in his 2014 score card had revealed that through the 20 per cent partial replacement of wheat flour with HQCF Nigeria will redirect N125b to cassava farmers annually.
(Leadership)
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