Though Nigeria is the largest producer of the root crop, its low average yield per hectare of about 7.7 metric tonnes compared with 23.4 metric tonnes and 22.2 metrics in Indonesia and Thailand, respectively, is still a source of worry to cassava breeders, agronomists and food scientists.
Taking advantage of Nigeria’s strength in cassava production
By Ricky Jones
Though Nigeria is the largest producer of the root crop, its low average yield per hectare of about 7.7 metric tonnes compared with 23.4 metric tonnes and 22.2 metrics in Indonesia and Thailand, respectively, is still a source of worry to cassava breeders, agronomists and food scientists.
With huge production potential and competitive advantage in cultivation, experts believe the country can grow and diversify the economy through industrialisation of the cassava roots to produce raw materials being imported by the ancillary industry users.
However, new commercial plantations should be established to take care of industrial demands for ethanol, starch, cassava flour and sweeteners. New plantations are imperative, according to Professor Kolawole Adebayo, former Regional Coordinator of Cassava: Adding Value for Africa (CAVA) projects.
The CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, during a meeting with cassava producing states and signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between Nigeria Cassava Growers Association and large-scale cassava processors last year, said: “Economic diversification is an essential tool for national development and we are leaving no stone unturned towards repositioning Nigeria on the map of the world, not just as the leading cassava producer but a processor as well.”
Emefiele had said compared with any other country, Nigeria has one of the best climates and land resources to produce and process sufficient cassava not only for consumption but also for industrial uses and export.
On the gap and demand that exists in the nation’s cassava value chain, the CBN governor said the demand for High-Quality Cassava Flour (HQCF) in bread, biscuits and snacks is above 500,000 tonnes yearly, while supply is below 15,000 tonnes. The demand for cassava starch is above 300,000 tonnes, while supply is below 10,000 tonnes yearly.
Also, demand for cassava-based constituents in sugar syrup is above 350,000tonnes, while supply is almost non-existent and potential demand for ethanol in Nigeria as a fuel for cooking, to power vehicles (E10), and other industrial uses exceed one billion litres, while production is nearly zero.
“It was on this premise that we included cassava in the FX exclusion list to salvage the industry, encourage farmers to go back to their farms to boost jobs creation and increase output and improve the capacity utilisation of our processing companies,” he had said.
However, Professors Adebayo and Sanni Leteef said industrialisation of cassava is hampered by poor farm mechanistion for higher yields per hectare; inadequate power supply; multiple demands for the crop, in competition for food need and unfriendly business and policy environments.
Cassava industrialisation strategy
Deepening cassava’s the production and value chain for economic growth and development require certain fundamentals. They include production and productivity techniques, industrialisation and import substitution strategy.
President, International Society for Tropical Root Crops and the Project Manager, IITA’s Building Economically Sustainable Cassava Seed Systems (BASICS-II), Prof Sanni, advocates integrated production and processing for cassava farmers and processors.
He advised: “The concept of integration is to share your overhead cost because utilities and infrastructure are major key elements in financing farming. So, how would you share from that cost? It is when you integrate crops with livestock, or you have two or three crops. When you have only one crop like cassava, you have two to three products. If you produce garri, produce instant fufu flour. Then, learn more and move to food-grade starch.”
He explained that Nestle Plc needs nothing less than 7,000 tonnes of food-grade starch and 10,000 tonnes of high-quality cassava flour, saying, “I have not talked about ethanol industry and about pharmaceutical industry needs. The pharmaceutical industries now need starch, and CBN is assisting processors so they can produce pharmaceutical starch.”
On increasing productivity per hectare despite climate change and other challenges, Prof. Sanni recommended that farmers should plant drought-tolerant cassava varieties. Two, he said emplacing irrigation facilities is becoming more imperative, no matter how small.
“In Israel, drip irrigation is their best farming technology and is giving them precision agriculture, increasing their productivity and enhancing their capacity to sustain food production. So, Nigeria needs to learn from other countries and there is the need for us to learn it,” he explained.
He, however, lamented that despite the huge opportunities in cassava flour as a substitute in wheat, the enabling policy is still “sleeping.” Some people are diversifying now because of the pandemic because when you could not get quality wheat, you have to blend with something. Professionally, that is ongoing, but they will not want to say it out.
Also, President, Nigeria Cassava Grower Association, Mr Segun Adewumi, emphasised five very major industrial derivatives that the country could maximize to safe the economy, and one of them is ethanol.
The ethanol that Nigeria consumes in wine and alcoholic drinks costs over N400 billion yearly and over 90 per cent of it is imported.
“Pharmaceuticals all over the world prefer cassava starch and certainly, we import almost 17 million metric tonnes of it at a very great cost. And we import over 90 per cent of the starch we use in pharmaceuticals, soap production and so many products,” Adewumi said.
He said if Nigeria substitutes wheat with cassava flour in bread, the country would save about N250 billion every year, just with about 20 per cent inclusion in only bread.
“At my last count, we use about 15,000 metric tonnes of flour and 20 per cent of that would be 3000 tonnes of cassava flour. We will be saving close to N300 billion every year,” he added.
On employment generation along the cassava value chain, Adewumi said cassava could replace oil, give more revenue to the country and create more job opportunities than in the oil and gas sector.
“Incidentally, these products are raw materials to other essential utility items with limitless market potential. This is to say cassava can trigger an industrial revolution in Nigeria and can actually change the narrative of the Nigerian economy,” he added.
CBN interventions in cassava value chain
Part of the strategic approach to deepening cassava industrialisation for all-inclusive growth is adequate financing of cultivation and processing at the small and medium-scale levels. However, this has remained a perennial challenge.
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