The Nigerian Cassava Growers Association (NCGA) has highlighted that Nigeria loses more than $200 million annually due to the non-implementation of the cassava bread scheme, which would have incorporated cassava products in bread production.
The new NCGA National President, Mustapha Bakano, revealed this during a press briefing after the inauguration of executive members in Abuja on Tuesday.
Bakano emphasized that the country’s continued reliance on flour for bread is costing millions of dollars in importation bills. The cassava bread initiative was inaugurated in October 2012 by the former Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Akinwunmi Adesina, with the aim of gradually substituting wheat flour with cassava flour in bread production.
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The initiative aimed to save foreign exchange for the country and make Nigeria the largest cassava processor, as it is the largest producer of cassava globally. However, the initiative faltered after Adesina left office, leading to heavy spending on wheat imports annually.
Bakano attributed the failure of the cassava bread initiative to a change in policy direction and stressed the need for a policy framework to promote the use of cassava in various sectors, including pharmaceuticals and ethanol production.
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The NCGA is working on a resource development plan to address these challenges and is calling on the government to provide policy direction to promote the consumption of locally produced cassava and reduce the country’s dependence on imports.