FG TARGETS 6 MILLION JOBS FROM CASSAVA AS RMRDC ORGANIZES TRAINING FOR PROCESSORS.

As part of efforts by the present administration to diversify the economy for the attainment of self-reliance and self-sufficiency in cash and staple crops, livestock and fisheries, jobs and wealth creation, including poverty reduction and food security, the Raw Materials Research and Development Council (RMRDC), in conjunction with the Office of the Special Assistant to the President on Food Security has organized a specialized workshop to train cassava processors in Nigeria. This is even as Federal Government has vowed to generate up to six (6) million jobs from up and down stream of the sector through processing as well as the establishment of 374 SMEs in view of the industrial demand for cassava products and aggregates.

Speaking at the event, Alh. Sanusi Maijama’a, Chairman Governing Board of RMRDC, who presided the forum, expressed optimism that given the enabling environment, Nigeria could generate up to 280, 000 metric tones of cassava flour per annum to provide 10% of the total quantity of cassava- Wheat flour composite required by the confectionery industry in Nigeria. He said that the Council which was fully involved in the Presidential Committee on cassava promotion especially with reference to the provision of High Quality Cassava Flour (HQCF) was committed to ensuring that enough cassava was produced and processed in the country to feed the agro industrial sector in this regard.

Alh. Maijama’a also highlighted the Council’s commitment towards the establishment of small scale, and cottage level processing centers to produce HQCF from the nation’s huge cassava reserves even as he noted that the estimated national demand for flour stood at about 2.8 million metric tones per annum; 10% of which was about 280, 000 metric tones which translated to about 1.0 million metric tones of fresh cassava tubers.

Delivering a keynote address at the occasion, the Special Assistant to the president on Food Security, Chief (Mrs.) Adetunji, noted that while the global demand for cassava as an essential industrial raw materials was on the increase, and with Nigeria currently standing as the world’s largest producer with the mark of 49 million MT, 19% of world total production, that Cassava was still relegated to a mere household food crop in the country, and was not regarded as an industrial crop.

She noted further that Nigeria was facing great diversification challenges especially from countries like Brazil, Thailand, and even Ghana who had made socio-economic fortunes from investments in cassava.

In her words: “A country like Brazil has long been taking 100% cassava bread and has gone a step further to diversify the use of PMS in form of Ethanol to drive their vehicles, which is being sourced from cassava. Thailand has been a key player at the export market of cassava starch while it id yet to produce as Nigeria does.”

She therefore urged the SMEs in Nigeria to harness the great potentials existing in the country as the world leading producer of cassava to invest in cassava production for sustainable technological and industrial development of the economy, even as she highlighted the several Federal Government sponsored initiatives to develop the industrial production and processing of the crop such as the Presidential Initiative on Cassava Production, Processing and Export 2002 which targets to generate revenue of US$ 5.0 Billion annually from cassava.

Chief Adetunji also reaffirmed government’s commitment to the provision of an enabling environment and incentives to the private sector to invest in cassava processing industry.

The Director General of the Council, Engr. (Prof.) Peter Onwualu also offered the Council determination to build capacity within the private sector for the local production and processing of cassava. He said the Council which had been championing the campaign for import substitution through the utilization of cassava as industrial products was determined to bolster the generation of more foreign exchange for Nigeria through nthe export of cassava products.

He said the workshop to train entrepreneurs on production of HQCF was aimed at generating capacity to meet the requirement of 10% HQCF composite for producing bread and confectioneries, creating job opportunities for a good number of Nigerians, reducing the importation of wheat and glucose syrup by training investors on local production techniques.

The DG further expressed the hope that the training workshop would achieve the aim of producing people capable of training others with a view to popularizing at cottage level, the production of HQCF and Glucose Syrup from cassava which national demand has been estimated to about 100, 000 metric tones annually, to boost the actualization of the Presidential initiative on cassava.