26 Cassava flour: Increased duty on wheat imports, now or later? Is sustained, It would then lead 10 a continuous Increase in cassava supply
OWYlNKA AlAWOO£
11
aslnveslorswboarenoc~
eIlC('Urase
acceptance of c_Slav, flour
Inclullon In bread. tJv· Federal Go\'ft1'U11erIt &rUIOUOCed the
policy to Increas~ Import dury on wheal an j wheat grains ... montlL Ax:ord1ng to Aklnwunml Adellna, minister of IIsrie ulture.
Nigeria spends N635 bUllon Importing whnt thereby export In! Its 0" -0 lobs and keeping rannl'fI of wheal exponJng C'lllntries employed. whDe dlSfIadng
lobs a' home. He'lce, the recent policy 10 bring the ~dutyon",,"'eIl1Dour
to IOOperantandaJ percent for wheal phls. this h •• spark.ed orr a debate With the cifrerenl .chools of thought giving IbIOnSbthdr$lalKlt..Sorne wonyabotatheeflealf'ftVUld hllve on the price of bread
and omer confKtJonerles. while lome mnlntaln thai dlJicouragement 1"1 wheat
Imporuwould crnfe.NeaJth andjob<. Adelolu OduRGI, an agrlbuslnen Inve tor and fC)mler vk:e pref'dellt. NECA Network of FntJepll!llauial Women(NNE\V).sa d, '"What we need to look ., is what
our country 5tnnd.~ to pin as a nadon.lt .... Wlo!)sl our
cassava Industry.~ CIting the eumple of the fruit )u.l.oe Industry, she
laid, "Similar arAuments were made about Impom on liuit juice whkb was even banned OUtrighl aorneyean ago. But today my finn and others that produce fruit luloe locally are nidence of the raCi that discoufBslns Importadon to driYte smwth In local Industry b a Sood
polley: On opected lncruse In
bread price she saki. "£~ If there II no Increase In wheat imports duty, foreign exchanse issues will:stllliead to Increase In bread price. Bread prices hOlve In~ in dmes past even without increase In Import duty of wheat because of the rbe In dollar to the nalta: Afrlcanfarmer Mogall. a crop farmer/con'iultant however di sag rees on the thnlns. lie sUB8esu December 2012 or January
2013 for the take off of the polk:y on increase In wheat lmportlduty. Hce.plalncd. -rbe dynamIcs of CBUBva business Is that r:very three yean, there Is an Increase in supply. As a result, prices raJl. fanners gel discouraged a.nd production drops. Thls would then lead 10 lower supply in the next two years causlng prioeIlo rise and In the third year produCilon rises. Now there has been a shortage of cassava In the Ia5I
two yean 10 even withoul the policy, people are investin8 in liS production this year. Cassava takes 10 10 1.2 mooth.s 10 mal~ lie added. "Oy me end or thls year/early nm year. cassava supply would be hlSher. If Ihe policy on wheal in order 10 encourase use of cassava takes off al that period, there would be a ready supply of cassava for the processors to mop up. If t.hls policy
fanners such u ba.nkcrs and stockbrokers would Invest money In cassava production In partnership with core fanners." I-Ie further said, "Bul the takeoff of this poIky in mid-2012 with the currenl shortage Ln cassava supply would not only make thlnp tough for dealers In other confecllonerles but for I.he garl and fufu sellers a n d ali other local users of casaava. With the take off of LhJs recent policy, a pklwp load of cassava tuben which ls aboul3 Ions and has been NS,OOO s1na!: last year has lumped to NIS,OOO 10 N2O,OOO in theSouthwestern stales,. That mean! thol who would be I!RCOUlllSed to produce ca.5sava as a result of the policy will ~ to pay much more for the amaYaseems they would be planting.The cassava debate i, on: Snul in your COmmDIC with supportin& evidencz on the timing of the Inawued duty on wh«U imports. the cauava Inclusion pollc,. the health implications and the elft£ts on cateren/ bahrs who prod.ua all odJin' c:onfoct~$U€h asm.b:s.
biJcuits. pies, c:ookin etc to ag@lbusineDdayonlinr.mm~
lJ8@bu.slneudayonJine.oom
Obasanjo calls for international agric research investments rm er Pr"sldent Olusegun C'b..lSanlo hal called on the Nlfperianpernmem .nd AfrIaIn natkJns It invest I inten\ation."ll aglltlillural esearch by suppo-tlnS the International In~ ilutt of Tropical AgrIcuhu e (IITA) to tap intO the opp! rtunities offered by the va'i 1mble iandslnthe conrine:-IL "This Is an In' p manl Instltutlon for us b· Hlgerla and Afrk;a. .I,d wt' need to support II," Sil)i Oli aojo, whoisal<io IITMan,,. "I$iIdor kJrAfrlcaal an eo.'m! nwldng th~ 45th anRlve s try of the blggelOl Inter'latlonal agrM;ulnual rnl"&Jl It a"mre In d)t!cornillCl.
R
soYt"mments. but not many of them have been able 10 meet tI)t! Maputo drdaration of allocating 10 ~ra:nt of budgelstoagriculture. Obasanlo Stales that for Africa to maximise its full pD(enria1.thepenrnenr.son the continent must tupport In5titutiolls such as UTA to acquire the technology and kn<M:tedge needed to aeate wealtiL lhe forme' presidrrn sa~ Africa needs to think abou' lhe 1lf!X! groemdon as thepopulatlonbeJ:pededto hll 9 billion by 2050, sayU18 thal"thepointlsthatthetools usetl45 years ago are I1k.rty to b~ obsolete, unless v.e rt'fuvenate" On tile bmefm of IffA to
fannandthatofotherfanners £rom the cassava mealy bus pandentlc In 1979, d.i!do6ins "mylannwasheavilylnfesud untllllTA broughl C85AvaresbtantvdrietJes.-
According to him. al the moment rnorethat7'Open:eIli ofbnprovro malr..e varieties grown In N'~a today have come £rom JITA-dCYt'loped varletl6. "We are lucky to
have the larsest research institute in our backyard and we should lake advatt'-"F of It;helWes. The pre,ldent of the All Farmers AssocIation of
Nigeria, Abdu1lahl Adamo. calls on Nigeria to meet 11.5 stalutory finandaI obIlgation to lITA, notlns that -as a Nigerian I wID ~ tI)t! government to henceforth begin 10 meet its tlnanclal oblisation." He pledges to lniti.1teiawsthalwouki~
rescan:h lIdhitles in Nigeria. stresslns that "research ls a mmponentaltl~YclIuechabl
thatdemandsauendon." Nteranya SanSlnS8, di.redot·genentI allJ1j\, says
rejuvenating the Institution wI11 be of benefh to Nlg1!riII In particular and Africa in geo~ra..I. as the baltJe of lomorrow will be food and water, expialnlns th:n UTA Is well positioned to offer
InSetUtll\~~.~n~d ~~~~~~m~~~~~~~Ak<o~.~.J~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~::~~~~~~~~~~~p"~'ed>~~'~.~"'~~IDa::'wW:::""::pnn:::,
pov~rty remal" 0 I lOp of In genmtl he q)"! varleties therood asenda I)f \rlcan. .frol11 IITA helped save his
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agricultural producthity and C'l!Ktewealth