Gazali Haruna
By Umar Fada
Nigerian Cassava Growers Association (NCGA), has decried the staggering economic loss incurred by Nigeria due to the neglect of cassava in its agricultural and industrial sectors.
The President of the Association, Alhaji Mustapha Othman Bakano who stated this in an interview highlighted the potential of cassava to significantly reduce the country’s import bill, particularly in the wheat sector, saving up to $200 million annually.
“Whole wheat that you have imported into the country which is almost 2.4bn USD; what we are saying is, if you introduce cassava into wheat, at just 10% cassava, you will reduce the import bill of the country by about 200million USD”
Alhaji Mustapha Bakano emphasised the importance of leveraging cassava’s value chain, including ethanol, alcohol, and bio-fuel production, to bolster Nigeria’s foreign exchange reserves.
“The NNPC has been talking about renewable energies and they have acquired a lot of land in Kogi State to see how they can farm cassava. As it is now, the situation is greater than we can imagine” he explained.
Bakano proposed extensive farming of cassava, despite challenges like insecurity, and outlined plans by the Association to support small-scale farmers through cooperative societies and local Public Private Partnership PPP initiatives.
“we are looking at the situation where we can ensure that we have developed a concept, which is the PPP concept, or in this sense, Local Private Partnership. So it’s going to be LPP this time around for the locals so that they will understand how they can leverage on each other’s advantages”
According to him, the concept of LPP emphasizes the importance of coupling financial support with tangible services or activities, thereby encouraging recipients to invest in their own development.
Alhaji Mustapha Othman Bakano also stressed the crucial role of empowering local farmers with knowledge, expertise, and access to financial resources to drive sustainable growth in the cassava industry.
