RMRDC RECEIVES MODELS FOR CASSAVA PROCESSING PLANT

 As part of efforts to build a technological capacity base within the country in equipment/ machinery development for raw materials processing, and reducing low capacity utilization in the nation’s industrial sector, the Raw Materials Research and Development Council (RMRDC) will soon engage the services of Nigerian Association of Engineering Craftsmen (NAEC), a division under the auspices of the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN), for a cassava processing plant to be sited in Lokoja, the Kogi state capital. The Director General of the Council, Engr. (Prof.) Peter Onwualu, disclosed this when some members of the body visited him in the council recently to submit a design prototype of the process line equipment.

The cassava processing equipment line which will be handed over to the Cassava Processors Association in the state when completed, in response to an earlier request by the group, will have an installed capacity of over a 100kg per batch installed capacity per day, and will comprise of nine basic components made up of a Batch Peeler, Grater, Hydraulic Press, Cake Breaker, Fryer, Dryer, Pulverizer, on one hand, and Chipper, and Chips Bagging, on the other.  

Addressing members of the body, the DG said the Council’s interest in the project was informed by an earlier request by farmers in the state for a cassava processing plant to address the issue of post harvest losses and the need to add value to their products for greater profit and preservation. He said the council’s participation in this regard should be seen in the light of efforts aimed at  implementing one of core mandates which revolved around raw materials development and the development of equipment/machinery plants for the processing of raw materials. 

He said the development of raw materials process equipment nation wide, especially in the agro sub sector, was imperative to maximizing the potentials of agriculture which if properly harnessed would make the nation self sufficient even without crude oil of petroleum. He said the Council’s intervention in this regard was therefore a way of adding value to the nation’s abundant agro raw materials resources and reducing post harvest losses hitherto experienced by local farmers through processing, even as he noted that the manufacturing of value added products from agricultural commodities through industrial processing was essential for any nation that wanted to be industrially relevant in the current global environment. 

Prof Onwualu therefore requested the fabricators to come up with a most suitable and functional version of their equipment promising that the Council would in addition project their image of the fabricators and boost their patronage if proper work was done by them in the development and fabrication of the plant.  

The completed version of the plant will attract various price tags ranging from N4,8837,800.00, for the stainless steel mechanized version, , N4,644,200 for the stainless steel electric version, N3,306,600.00 for the mid steel/mechanical drive and N3,127,300.00 for the mild steel/ electrical drive versions. 

It is to be recalled that the Council has before now facilitated a workshop with the Kogi State Foundation in Lokoja, recently, during which fabricators in the state were invited to showcase their machineries, and granted Office space to NAEC in its Kogi state Liaison Office in Kogi Sate on temporary basis as an encouragement to the body.

                                                                                                                           Chucks Ngaha