Association wants FG to establish cassava processing plants nationwide


The Federal Government has been urged to establish cassava processing plants in all the 774 local government areas to enhance food security in the country.

Malam Jamiu Lawal, Chairman, Niger Chapter, Nigeria Cassava Processors and Marketers Association, made the call on Monday in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Minna.

Lawal said that the measure would also reduce the high cost of livestock feeds, including poultry and fishery in Nigeria.

“The Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development should promote the establishment of micro cassava processing industries in each of the 774 local government areas of Nigeria.

“Such plants will ensure enough processed cassava for local consumption and export.

“It will also reduce the high price of livestock feed since the by-products of cassava can be used to make various animal feeds,’’ he said.

He said that unpeeled cassava chips were sources of carbohydrate and in making livestock feeds for poultry, fish, cattle and others.

According to Lawal, there is the need to make animal feed from the unpeeled cassava chips mixed with maize or sorghum.

He said that these by-products had currently gone beyond the reach of the ordinary farmers due to high cost.

The association’s chairman said that cassava processors in Niger were producing unpeeled cassava chips as sources of energy and for livestock feeds, including poultry and other animals.

He said that using unpeeled cassava chips to formulate animal feeds could create domestic market for two million metric tons of cassava products annually.

Lawal said that the cassava processing plants when established, would create direct employment for over 60, 000 Nigerians and enhance the living standard of 600, 000 households.

“About N72 billion could be earned by Nigerians from two million metric tons of domestic market from unpeeled cassava chips for livestock feeds annually.

“Cassava processing industry can be established for between N500, 000 to N5 million, producing between 10 to 50 metric tons of finished products per month.”


Lawal also said that the cassava product was capable of recouping investment on it within two years.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Tomato disease outbreak: Institute appeals for research funding

The National Horticultural Research Institute, Ibadan, has appealed for funding to carry out research and create awareness on the tuta absoluta pest on tomatoes. The Institute’s Head of Vegetable Programme, Dr Olagorite Adetula, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Ibadan on Friday that there was an urgent need to tackle the problem to save the economy. Adetula said the institute needed money to do surveillance survey of the pest/damage, ascertain the impact of the damage and proffer solution for eradicating the pest. She appealed to the Federal Government to help the institute get pheromones to lure and trap the pests and distribute to farmers. ``Spraying insecticides is not the best, the pest has high production rate, some of them can escape while spraying it and they will be resistant to the insecticide thereby causing us more cost. ``The pheromones can be used for six to eight weeks before changing it, it is very effective, the pest has short life cycle, wit...
Read more

10,000 women farmers to be engaged in ECOWAS rice project – official

Image
 Mr Richard Olafare, the President, Seed Entrepreneurs Association of Nigeria (SEEDAN) says 10,000 women will be engaged in the recently inaugurated Rice Seed Up-Scaling Project. This is contained in a presentation on the project made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Friday. Olafare said 8,000 youths would also be engaged in the scaling project. According to him, the number of women and youths represented 50 per cent and 40 per cent respectively of the 20,000 farmers that will participate in the project. NAN reports that the project is an initiative of the West Africa Seed Programme (WASP) in support of the ECOWAS Rice Offensive Programme that was inaugurated in 2014. Among other objectives, it is targeting the production of 60,000 metric tonnes of paddy rice for Nigeria by December 2017, using 1,200 certified seeds. The project is being implemented by SEEDAN in collaboration with the West and Central Africa Council for Agricultura...
Read more

Monsanto Nigeria Launches 3 Conventional Maize Hybrids

Maize farmers across Nigeria now have 3 high yielding conventional maize hybrids to choose from the DEKALB ® brand as Monsanto Agriculture Nigeria Limited launches 3 conventional maize hybrids. The launch held in Abuja on Tuesday May 17 2016 had in attendance farmers, development partners, government regulatory bodies and other stakeholders from both the private and public sectors of the economy. The launch of these hybrid seeds follows their registration by the National Committee on Naming, Registration and Release of Crop Varieties, Livestock Breeds and Fisheries in February 2016. The white maize hybrid, DK234 alongside the 2 yellow maize hybrids, DK920 and DK818 obtained registration approval for use in Nigeria after testing across various agro ecological zones on multi-location farms. The white maize hybrid DK234 with yield potential of 13 tonnes per hectare is well adapted for the Southern and Northern Guinea Savanna ecologies and shows tolerance to Maize Streak Virus, ...
Read more