Don't Miss

Cassava farmers, processors task FG on N4.3bn cassava bread fund

By BusinessNews Staff on January 19, 2014

Nigeria is said to produce more cassava than any other country in the world. It is the third most important source of calories in the tropics, after rice and maize. Millions of people depend on cassava in Nigeria and Africa in general.
Cassava is grown by poor farmers, many of them women, often on marginal land. For those people and their families, cassava is vital for both food security and income generation.

Following in the footsteps of past administrations, especially that of President Olusegun Obasanjo, seeing that cassava not only meet the food security needs of the estimated farmers who grow it, but to provide a key to rural industrial development and higher incomes for producers, processors and traders, this administration came up with cassava transformation program.

The cassava transformation project seeks to create a new generation of cassava farmers, oriented towards commercial production and farming as a business, and to link them up to reliable demand, either from processors or a guaranteed minimum price scheme of the government.

The over reaching strategy of the cassava transformation is to turn the cassava sector in Nigeria into a major player in local and international starch, sweeteners, ethanol, HQCF, and dried chips industries by adopting improved production and processing technologies, and organizing producers and processors into efficient value-added chains.

The cassava processing technology started in the late 50s from the Federal Institute of Industrial Research, Oshodi (FIIRO) with various products and equipment. It is clear that the mandate to process cassava and other crops was solely given to the institute, which they carried out judiciously without dabbling to crop production and other agencies mandates.
The Federal Government as a way of stimulating increased domestic production and processing of cassava announced plans to cut wheat imports by introducing a new policy compelling cassava flour inclusion in wheat flour.

Part of the government plan was to impose a levy of 15 % on wheat grain imports, which will increase the effective duty from 5 to 20 %. The gain from the levy was used to establish the Cassava Bread Development Fund.
This led the Federal Government, represented by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Bank of Industry (BoI) for the bank to manage the N4.3 billion cassava bread fund that would support small and medium enterprises (SMEs), master bakers and large industrial cassava flour mills.

The Bank of Industry (BOI) and Bank of Agriculture (BOA) are to manage disbursement of the N9.9billion cassava bread fund released by President Goodluck Jonathan, according to the Minister of Agriculture Dr. Akinwumi Adesina. N4.3 billion will be disbursed by the BOI to support Small and Medium Scale Enterprises SMEs, who are involved in cassava processing, while the BOA is to manage N2.4 billion of the fund in collaboration with 13 key private stakeholders, he said.

Adesina said: “It will be 50% grant 50% loan. And you will agree with me that this is a huge step forward in terms of supporting our farmers to produce more cassava.”
The Managing Director of the BoI, Ms Evelyn Oputu, who signed on behalf of the bank, pledged that the bank would work closely with the stakeholders to ensure that the fund was properly utilized

But, at a recent conveyed at FIIRO by stakeholders to seek BoI’s explanation on the disbursement of the fund, they tasked the federal government to set up a powerful monitoring committee to ensure judicial use of cassava bread fund, to avoid defaulters and saboteurs.

The stakeholders represented at the meeting , the National Cassava Processors and Marketers Association (NCAPMA), Crops Commodity Farmers Association and Processors and the Federal Institute of Industrial Research Oshodi (FIIRO), said past interventions by governments failed because of mismanagement.
At the meeting in FIIRO, the Chairman of Crops Commodity Farmers Association and Processors, Chief Adebayo Ajayi, advised the BoI to judiciously carry out the assignment of disbursing the money promptly to avoid unnecessary diversion that caused the failure of past interventions.

He enjoined government to ensure that representatives of farmers, processors, bakers, millers, middle and small scale processors, chairman of house committee and senate committee on agriculture, BoI, FIIRO and others are members of its monitoring committee to avoid defaulters and saboteurs.
The President of NCAPMA, Ayo Olubori, who told Journalists that its members are not envisaging any challenge in the disbursement of the fund with the way it is structured, said the challenges of the past was due to the non-inclusion of all the major stakeholders in what government was doing. He noted that now that its association members and others are part of it there is no fear.

“That is why we have success story today. We are hopeful that at the end of the day it is going to be a success story. Our people are ready to meet up with the requirements of the BoI and we are qualified for it,” he said.
But, Mr. Simeon Abanuwulor, the National President, Association of Master Bakers and Caterers of Nigeria in chat with this reporter earlier , decried the “bottlenecks” militating against access to the Cassava Bread Development Fund.

“Government has to take it seriously; master bakers should be empowered to make this bread available to all Nigerians.
For Mrs. Falade, a farmer in Ogun State, she said the much advertised release of the Cassava Bread fund by the government has not reached value chain beneficiaries. “Out growers must start land preparation now for cheaper roots this year.

“SME processors remain idle due to lack of fund. The sincerity of government on HQCF project is being put to question. For how long shall we wait? This is very sad and unfortunate.”
For the Director-General/CEO of FIIRO, Dr. (Gloria) Elemo, she said that the provision of the fund is a plus to the administration, which would push cassava initiative to a logical conclusion adding that cassava is the answer to Nigeria food security and industrial development of the country. She noted that the fund would assist in getting High Quality Cassava Flour to be included in wheat flour.

“Pilot plant production expansion and proliferation in three FIIRO outpost locations to complement other value chain improvement initiatives in cassava. You will agree with me that cassava is the answer to Nigeria food security and industrial development o the country,” she stated.

[Vanguard]

headline