Nigeria's cassava production booms but processing capacity lags

Nigeria is now the leading country in yam and cassava production in the world, producing a third more cassava than Brazil and double that of Thailand and Indonesia combined. Cassava production alone in the year 2003 was about 34 million metric tonnes and from a total area of 3.1 million hectares and an average yield of about 1 tonne per hectare. This had risen to 3.8 million hectare, with an average of 11.84 metric tonnes per hectare in the year 2005. It is estimated that Nigeria will produce 50 million metric tones of cassava by the year 2010. Much research work is going on to try to achieve the same feat for yam and other crops like cocoa and cotton.

Yet some stakeholders in agriculture are expressing fears that the commitment, enthusiasm and financial support given to the on-going cassava production initiative might soon fade away if the identified major obstacle against the cassava revolution is not properly addressed. In the opinion of Dr. Abdulganiyu Raji of the University of Ibadan, "to sustain the interest of potential stakeholders, the cassava industry needs champions willing to improve the sub-sector's performance, including the setting up of the necessary processing sector to back up the increased production.

Professor Olusegun Oke of the Presidential Committee on Cassava Export Promotion said the federal government had done a lot to stimulate the cassava business. Speaking at a workshop on value addition in cassava processing organised by the Raw Materials Research and Development Council (RMRDC) recently in Ibadan, he said the programme had been extremely successful in incresing cassava production. However, he said, "the rate of processing did not match the high rate of production and farmers are asking what they can do with their cassava as there is no ready market, or rather the price is not right."

Mrs. Omowumi Osibo of the Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC) believes that the government has laid the foundation of wealth for Nigerians through the "golden crop" being produced in large quantities in the country. She identified inadequate investment in the processing segment of the sector as part of the cause of the cassava glut. Other constraints identified by the NEPC include the poor quality of cassava stems still being used for cultivation by some farmers, the need for improved-quality processing machines fabricated locally and the high prices charged by processors. She said NEPC will provide incentives to encourage investors, ameliorate the plight of exporters and also cushion some of the high cost of production in the country as a result of inadequate infrastructural facilities.

Osibo tasked cassava farmers and would-be farmers of other agricultural products to transform the country's comparative advantage in cassava cultivation to competitive advantage on the international market to increase the country's market share of cassava exports.

Tribune