PROF ONWUALU IDENTIFIES PRIVATE SECTOR AS KEY TO ACHIEVEMENT OF 10% CASSAVA FLOUR DIRECTIVE

The Director General of the Raw Materials Research and Development (RMRDC), Eng. (Prof) Peter Azikiwe Onwualu has described the Organized Private Sector (OPS) as critical to the overall achievement of the ten per cent cassava flour inclusion in bread and other confectionary items.  The DG made this assertion when he delivered a position paper at the just concluded forum of the Nigerian Cassava Growers Association, held in collaboration with the Council, in Abuja recently. 

He stated that the Federal Ministry of Science and Technology (FMST), through the RMRDC, was spearheading the creation of an enabling environment for the producers and processors of cassava in Nigeria.  

The DG also recognized the role of other stakeholders in the sector, stating that R&D activities on the development of the commodity should be given priority if the country were to remain globally relevant in the production and development of cassava. 

He averred that the result would ensure that production of varieties of the commodity, volume, and quality- in line with both domestic and international demand- were sustained.  He also called for an involving and alternative approach to ensure proper mechanism for transforming the right information on farm practices, processes technology and R&D findings and innovations from the laboratory stages to their end- users.  

Earlier, the Chairman of the implementation committee on cassava green revolution, Pastor Segun Adewumi, called for cooperation among cassava Growers, Flour Millers and Equipment Fabricators in Nigeria, stating that his Association was committed towards establishing 3 Cassava processing factories, to be sighted in state of the federation, for ethanol, starch, and flour production.  

He also put the combined cassava flour requirement in Nigeria at about 300, 00 metric tones annually, saying that his Association was prepared to supply the cassava needed to meet this demand in Nigeria.  

Also contributing, the Vice President of Flour Millers Association of Nigeria, Mr Moses A. Ehizuenlen remarked that only the shortfall in the supply of cassava could deter the achievement of the presidential directive by the first of June, 2006 even as he called on all stakeholders to collaborate in the achievement of local content standard requirement in bread flour production.
                                                                                                                

                                                                                                                            Chucks Ngaha