Business FRESH BUSINESS NEWS AT YOUR FINGERTIPS August 5, 201 2
Cassava bread not harmful to health -FIIRO DG The Director-General of the Federallnstftute of Industrial Research, Dr. Gloria Elemo, in this interview wffh Johnson Okanlawon, allays the fears in some quarters that cassava bread is harmful to human health, and speaks on other economic advantages of cassava production in the country. Excerpts: There has been emphasis by the Fede ral Government on 20 per cent cassava flour Inclusion In bread. Do you support the Initiative?
Cassava, being of many crop variet-
ies, has a relative advantage in Nigeria and several opportunities for us to maximize to the fullness, not only in food se.curity but also in industrial utilization. We have the capabUlty: As for us in the Federal Institute of Industrial Research (FUR), we have worked on several areas of cassava review in developing varl路 ous products as well as improving and
upgrading our indigenes technology to various suitable cassava foods such as
some level of cassava flour; only that we are not certain of the volume of the cassava 10 the flow: Study has shown that the many flour millers use some level of it in the market We desire that the policy should be enforced by the government so that the percentage of the inclusion will be known. Hence, when you are buying flour in the market, you know that you are buying so much pereentage of cassava flour. I believe that in order for the policy to be sustainable, we must get the Nigerian milling industry on board, they must start the inclusion right at the milling than leaving it in the hand of Indlvlduals-
garri and so many other things. We have hJgh quality cassava flour, which has
been developed for industrial utilization_ In Nigeria, we import all the flOUT we use in the baking industry and bread has come to be staple food and so we cannot play with issues of bread and It is a product, which we can maximize and exploit for job creation in the country. That is why the inclusion of cassava in bread making Is an opportunity for NIgerta. From OUT research, Nigeria imports wheat worth N855 billion annually and the technical inclusion of cassava flour will be saving us about N53.3 bUllon. The beauty of It is that we have quality cassava flOUT for the production of cassava bread; It has the capably to generate about three mlllion jobs from the survey that was carried out by the Institute. And this is actually based on an estimate of 75,00) small and medium enterprises that will be set up in the production of cassava bread flow: Apart from UTe that Is using cassava flour for bread, whal other companies use Ihe product?
Before the policy, we at the Federal Institution of industrIal Research since 2CX禄 had started using cassava flour in the production of FIRRO bread. The bread contains 10 per cent cassava flour; and when the need to step up came and we Increased the percentage to 20, the texture was not dlfferent from the 10 per cent bread.. And we have been producing the bread daily since 2004_ Flour millers have actually put In
There Is the lssue of the cassava bread nour being claimed 10 be harmful 10 heaHh. Is there any truth In this? The claim that there are chances that
the cassava bread will bring about the occurrence of diabetes in the society Is a call for concem because scien tifically, that is not true. Inunediately we heard the rwnour, we embarked on a research of measuring the gravity in.(lepth, which is an indicator of how much individuals with diabetes and non-diabetics can handie the blood sugar levels due to the level of carbohydrates.. For instance, if the gravity In.(lepth proves between 0 and 55, it is low and It's usually recommended for diabet1c patient and if It's between 55 and 59, It's also recommended as mediwn range. But if it is about 70, It is high and is usually not recommend路 ed.. Cassava flour has about 52 to 53, so it's encouraging for utilization In bread making. So, there is no cause for alarm In terms of Its effect on health. In fact, it is recommended for good health, and if yo u cast your mind back, we have always been eating cassava for a long time, and It has not had any deteriorating effect on ourbodles. Do yOll eat cassava bread?
That is what I have been eating sInce 2005 that I came to thIs institution. I take It for breakfast everyday and my family too eats It On a lighter note, nobody wants to eat any other bread in my family except the cassava bread and you cannot actually detect any different in the bread w1thoutcassava and the one with cassava.
D~
Gloria Elemo
potentlat that is i1i~in. Is It the same bread that was offered to the House of RepresenlaUve Commlnee on S<:Ience and Technology when they vislled the InstHute?
It's the same bread.. In fact, we use cassava flour for meat pies, sauce rolls and cake contains 20 per cent cassava and that is what we used to serve them. Whal Is the source 01 the cassava flour for your bread production? Do you have a cassava farm?
In the Institute, we produce our own cassava flour every day, we have a unit dedicated to the production of high qual路 ity cassava flour; and we actually source our cassava from neighbouring villages, going as far as Ogun State.
AgricultUre is conbibuUng 40 per cent 10 the nation's Gl'o,;.s l)omestlc Product (GOP) and yet thl! !lumber of agro-allied Induslrles that ate doing well Is very minimal. What Is rt..sponslble for Ihis?
It is not only th~ agro allied Industry that has been so afrected. Industria)izatlon has also gone down In Nigeria Simply because of th!! oil we have paid so much exclusive attention to. We have relaxed in the aru2_of production of materials for the manufacturing industry. If you go to any Jnarkcl., you will find all types of imported foods, we Import actually everything.
00 you think there Is enough noor In the country 10 serve this purpose? Yes, the production of high quality
According to the "'-'nluter of AgricuHure, Dr. Akinwunml AdE_slna, It Is like flour millers appear to haVE shown a kind 01 resistance 10 cartying along Ihe cassava policy. What Is your take on this?
cassava bread is the best way to drive production; It is the market that drives the production. If you are a farmer and you don't have the market for your products. you will be discouraged from further production. So we are expecting that the poliey is going to be geared towards the production of more cassava. Cassava is quite easy to manage and organIZations like the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (lITA) have done a lot of work in improving cassava SPEcial will also go Into the production of cassava and you will be amazed at the
It is a collective effort and national project that all ~ takeholders in the cassava Industry mu:;! be involved in. We must put Nigeria fir.:;! in all our decisions. I think the flour millers just want a soft landing; thel' are interested in cassava flour and they m,ve no choice if ifs the governmenfs policy.: The policy will be implemented pl:'Operly, and there will be good monitoring. If Ifs what we want in Nigeria, definllely Nigeria has to do it; I believe the grlidual inclusion of cassava flour into their production line wlll convince them. . J.
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