The Nigeria Cassava Growers Association (NCGA) has stated that Nigeria loses more than $200m annually for not implementing the plan that would have seen cassava products used in the production of bread.
The new National President of NCGA, Mustapha Othman Bakano, said the continued reliance on flour for bread is costing the country millions of dollars in importation bills.
Speaking during the inauguration of new executives for the association, Bakano blamed change in policy direction for the jettisoning of the cassava bread initiative.
“I won’t say we got it wrong but something happened along the line, government policy direction changed. During the time of Akinwunmi, there was the cassava bread initiative, had it continued, by now, we would have been using 40 per cent of cassava in flour in the bakery. By now we would not be saying we are suffering from depletion in our foreign reserve.
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“Now, we are working tirelessly to see how we can ensure that first, 10 per cent of cassava comes into wheat to reduce the import bill for the country. If we are able to input 10 per cent in the first year, we will look at how we reduce the import bill by almost $200m, by the time we go to 20 per cent, it is now 400m so we are looking at a framework where we can go to 3 to 4 years and we will give it to the government to see how they can implement it.“
He added that the loss is just in one sector as the product can be used in the pharmaceutical sector and ethanol where biofuel can be produced from it.
He stated that despite Nigeria being the highest producer of cassava, the income generated from it is less than $170m while China, who is producing less, is making over $2bn annually from the sector.
He however said the association is working on a resource development plan “To see how we can bring in the framework that will address all those mitigations and see what the government can help us do.”
