The Association of Master Bakers and Caterers of Nigeria says lack of high quality tools to process cassava flour may take a toll on the cassava bread initiative.
Mr Jacob Adejorin, the President of the association, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos that cassava, the major component of the bread, was also scarce.
According to Adejorin, bread baked from poor quality cassava flour does not have long shelf life and this is not acceptable to most Nigerians.
He said that the flour bread initiative might soon go into extinction except the government made deliberate efforts, especially through adequate awareness campaigns.
“We, as bakers, have expressed enough willingness to make cassava bread, but the raw materials are not readily available for mass production.
“The issue of cassava bread is not a new initiative, but it has hardly seen the light of the day because the value chain has been weak.
“From harvesting cassava to processing and packaging of the flour, it has not been pleasant for bakers.
“There is need for a more sophisticated form of processing for the cassava flour to be used for bread because it is different from processing cassava for garri or fufu.
“As at today, getting cassava flour for the production of bread in Lagos alone is not available,” Adejorin said.
He said that former Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State launched a Master Bakers’ Training Programme in 2015 to add professionalism to the industry, but the training was yet to begin.
Mr Femi Awobona, a member of the Cassava Millers Association, also told NAN that high quality cassava flour was the only requirement needed to make cassava bread worthwhile.
He said that it would demand more expensive equipment placed in a cluster where bakers could access it for a start for mass and quality production of the bread.
NAN reports that former President Goodluck Jonathan reintroduced the initiative in 2014 after General Olusegun Obasanjo.
The former Minister of Trade and Investment, Mr Olusegun Aganga, had said in 2015 that one of the benefits was to make the nation self-sufficient in production of cassava by-products.
The Aganga said the initiative would help the nation to save more than N635 billion it spent on the importation of wheat flour annually. (NAN)
