31
AGRle
BUSINESS
BUSINESSDAY: www.businessdayonline.com
Wedr..sday 27 June 2011
Nigerian farm to export 6000 tons of cassava chips to China
I
Israeli firm to produ {e bio-fuel from microalgae in ~I igeria
re,! Fanns. under the auspices of Shong. Farms Holdings, In partnersh i p with Austrawia of Austtalil. is
to commence uponation of cassava chips to China. wfth the 6rst balch of 6000 tOfU in I few dayI' time.
Shonga Farms, In which K\OiIlR Stale has • 25 peunl
slau, Is also to coordinate the sourcing of addltlona, cassava from out-growers in the stale.. n1l5 was disclosed I' an I n1C~ tactive session berween Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed and a delegation from Austravia, exponen of dried
cassava chips, led by Sam PDpilko. chief finandaJ officet, James Awonlyt, represenwiYe of the minister of agricu.Itule, and Tope DanunoIa, chairman of Shong. Fanus !lolding5,I' the government house in lIonn" the ~ capital SpeakIng on the fnidadYe,
Popfiko said ItS of today lh~ was more !han • million IOIU pc!f dayrequIremenl ol cassav.a In China ready to beexplored. According to him, "the glut of the produce In !he: Shonga Finns necessilated the new deal. The first batch of 6 000 lon, will be uponed in the next two wteb."
Commenting on the
success oftheSMnga lnlliative. Akinwuml Adesina, minister of
agriculrure. represenled byhis c:onsultant.lamesAwoniyi,said " KWilnI Sl:ale Is ~ sua~c 10 the Federal Government Initiative on cassava export KWilnI has the fornighl with the creation of the Shonga
OLUYINKA ALAWOOE Farms Hoidinp.11 was JlCJtW1'y clear to many people at that lime when Kwara iWted this and probably a Ioc ofN'JgeriaN II.witllS a wasted effort. "But.lr, cusava will surely become the foundadoo for the economic deYl!lopmenl of this mte and Nigeria Is waiting." adding. "With this Inldative, Kwan Is poised to take over from Thailand as a major exponer of caMaVlL" In response, Governor Ahmed said the aponadon of canBYa chips to China wu possible because the state government had Upl faith with beSi practices In agriculture through the sharlna of best values with expens across the world. "An
anempt to create a synergy between research institutions, practising farmers and poUcy formulators led us Into partnering CorneD Uru~ty, UniledStatel, Icnownglobalty foragrirulturaJ best practices,. in the formulation of a Rve Year Agrirulrural Master Plan thai will change the face of agriculture In the Stale," the govemorsald. Acco rdi ng 10 him, the eJ:portatlon of cassava to China by [reti Farms, one of the II Zimbabwean farms, :15 a resu ll of glut of the produce in Shoop Farms, Is an indication of the success of his gow:rnmenl's agriculture value chain management following the adoption of
commercial farming through a pllrtnership with a group of Zimbabwea n farmers, now known IS New Nigerian b~=
lie 'said his administration would suppon the I!IpOftBIion of ca5A.Va chips. which allied willt Its policy thrult i n agriculture as It will encourage the emergen ce of a huge pop ulation of out·growen among Ihe peasant farmers 10 service the ma/orgriJweB. nll! governor commended the minister of agriculture (o r his Initiatives on the mtnsrormadon of the secror; he said was In tandem wflh the core valueli of h is administratlon ' l snared protperity prograrnrne.
University don launches books on cassava GODFREY OFURUM
Aba
T
wo books on cassava • ' Hidden Treasure 1 and Hidden Treasure (Cassava F lour), - were launched recently by 'oy Onyenachi, a lecturer al the Instilu te of Nigerian Languages. University or Nigeria, Aba campus. Speaking a t lh elauncb, Onyenach l affirmed that the poorest families In Nige r ian villages could
be uplifted e conomically If the vario u s varieties of cassava w ere processed fo r lndus u lal purposes. -Cassava ca n turn aro un d th e eco n o m ic fortun es o f most families and the cou n ny. if the current effort of the Fede r al Gove r n m ent
If they utilise It well, It wou l d provide them with fina n ce. w h ich they can use t o meet other needs.T h e lectu re r descrIbed the insinua t ion t h at cassava was unhealthy, especia ll y fo r diabe t ic patients as faise .
to promote the crop
stressing that -the
15 sustained" she emph asIsed. Acco r ding 10 ber, t here 15 no survival wit h out agricu lt ure . as -t h e p oo rest fa m ily In the Vill age can l ay h a n d on cassav a and
cyanide I n cassava Is removed during processing as cassava Is a ll owed to ferme n t for tw O days.To h er, allowing It to ferment for two days reduces th e cyanide
conc entration , rl · 85 one grinds it, ' eves It and dry It P .Jerly before sending it again for g r inding to turn 11 Inlo powder. the cya n ide would have been removed and you get s Oillethlng thai Is nutrltlo n allO the body."' She, therefore, advised families to turn their bacqards In LO economic use by p lanljng cassava and vegetables. One of the highligh ts of Ihe event was the cuttIng of cake baked fro m cassava flour.
lo . ru el ca n be gOI from cassava. m.ah.e and quite a number of edible foods , particularly grains. tI~ the exploration of blo-fuels as an alternative to fossil fuel (crude oU) has been hindered by Inc reas ed dem a nd for food as a result of growing populadon aU over the world. CounlTles would ra ther we food to feed lheir peop£e than usettasbio-fueL Univerve. an lsraeU firm.
B
hastherefo~de<n!Ioped IIUa1J-
algae as alternative soun:e of bio·fuel. Ohad Zuckerman, c:hIef executive, Univerve, saki. -We have a complete sysIem of produdngblo-£ueI frommiaoalgae. These are unicellular photo.synthetic organilms thai live In WllIet During their photosynthesis. they lake in carbon-dkJDde(002)fromthe air and transform II to protdn. carbohydrate and 00. We lake theoil and make bio-fuelout 01 it. Therema1n1ogbtomassfrom thlspl'Oa5Sa1O then beused in mak;ng IUh 'O<dL" Zuckerman, ap lalnlng his company', Interest in NIgt!ria. said "we are growing miaoaJgae in the laboralllries In Israel and we are looking at scaling them up. We have , uong reasons for thlnidng Nigeria Is a good maria We haw: a1readystaned udllsaoon of microalgae In Israel and we con.lder Nigeria the best locadon for Africa. The fea5l.llillty ItUdy shows thai the best locations are places !hat hIr.oeenough resoun:eIIioi plaN. WBIeI; sun and fields to do the
procr ;sing."
n e ISfBeU explained the b uslress, saying · when we em.b Ish in Nigeria. W!! IhaIl begin Hithadernoowadmand education centre for obtaining blo-f lei frool mlcroalgae. Inten:llerl orpnisations and govel nmenls In Africa can send delegation. 10 learn and bnplement In their awn SlIIf5. 'The business has kKs advantagtlS. Mianalgae farms will ~en erale employment for til ! pt.'opl!!. There til! no neg:1tiw effects of producing bio-fu!ls from mk:roaIgae, It is a bioIt gicli procea" \vldp~dia encycloped exp lains mlcro phytes o. micro alga e as microscopic alg ae typically found In fn:shwlIl!r and marineS)'S(eIN. 1heya.ewIicdlularspeci5dw exist bldMdually, or In dWn5 or gro 1pI. Depending on the specie .. ti telr sizes can range from { few mIaometres to a few hi. ndn:ds of micrometreL U_oIgI _ _
or
do not have rootl, Itel1lll and leaves. MIcoalgae. capable of performing phOIOSYIUhelils, an: 1nl/lOnant for Ufe on eanh; they produce apprmimalely hall 01 he aunospberic arygen and IN! Simultaneously the grecnh!lUS ~ gas carbon dlo:dde m groy. phoIoauloaophicalty. Th' b iodlveull y of miaot 19a~ Is ennnnow; and n:pn:sc nt lEn almoit untapped resourre. It has been estimated that abOUt 200,000 to 800,000 ~I I!! eziSt, of which about 35,000 species are described. Masr~dlese~s.pecieI pmdUC!! wlique products likt: c:aroo:noid!~ anliaddants, faay ad d s,. enJ:ymeli, polymerl, peptidr it toxins and aerok.