FG pledgesto link farmers, processors to ready export market for cassava chips
The Federal Government says it will assist cassava farmers and processors to create linkage markets to guarantee export and sale of cassava chips at the international market. The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh, said this at an Agribusiness Supplier Development Programme (ASDP) meeting organised by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Ibadan on Tuesday. Represented by Mr Auwal Maidabino, the Director, Planning and Policy Coordination in the ministry, Ogbeh said the linkage when actualised, would secure and inject more foreign exchange into the country. The minister, who said that in 2012 the country secured and supplied 2.2 million tonnes of cassava chips to China, which earned it over 534 million dollars, expressed regret that the business was not sustained. Ogbeh said the government would continue to provide improved yielding cassava stems, disease resistant varieties, access to finance and markets to improve the count...