mE GUAAoIAN, Sunday, October 23, 2011
Life Returns To Cassava Flour Mills B~
Olul:lyude O~ele~ ~A "our milling busln~ may bt: on the ~th of recovery going bydlscoveries . The Gu.udi;w made last wer:k. Until re«:ntly. Thai Farms International (TFI), a manufaaurt:ror High QlIi!lityCUsava Aour(HQCF) basr:d In Oso!a, Og\'n State, could not sell its product and had 600 tons of high quality cassava nour in its wall'llOuses. It had to stop pur· chasing (Assal'a roots from fanners. n Il' new Minister of Agricultt'rt:, Dr IlkinwumlAdeslna heard iL 011 Septellll~r 26,lhe minislercaJ1ed for a mtottlng witll tile nour mills operators 10 start buyi ng high qu"lity cassava noUl: TIle whe"l nour millers rr:spo ndecl promptly and POSitively.: Within one week UIt~y had pur· chased 11I1' backlog of cassaVii nour in l h ai Farms and OAOTCO and ilnolhl'r l.uge I-IQCf producer wilh fa(:tcries in lalingo and Osun Stall', and at some other small scale (SMEs) processors.. l h~ imp;lct has been quick. as production of cas~va nour has resuml'll a~aln wi thin few weeks from the stakt:holders dis· closures las t week. The OSosa·b;lscrl TFI has lust Informed out· growers that tile comp.lny Is now rr:adyto pur· clli'-~e 0\'tT20n tons (lr fresh cassava root ll1bers perclay.Asogb-lAfol<, bi from Ike: nnl' was onl'of the IJOOfarmer«n~rKlaries who art: now sure ofse1lingthelrproduce promptl)\ With in I.h~ \vee ks of the meetin1 ~t\veen tht: wheat nour millers and the mirlster. a markel of an estl· matal)O,OOO metric tons of IIQCf, an cquiY.llent of 120,000 tons or roots of a conseJVnl~ valul' of NI.5 billil.n naira has pOlentially openetl UI) for proce>sors ilnd their network of CaSSol\';) farmers in OgUll St:.lle, from tht: report elnanaling fro m rec<!ntdevelopments. lhe mlnlstl'r, infonned 11le GUdnJr,m tha.t he l'l'Cognised the pre- ilcament of farmers and mo~"ed intoaction, brl nging the scattered stakeholders together In what is increasingly becoming pojJu.l~ rly Irnown ilS value ch"'ln.1. ogun State appe:ars to be" test case in i\th!sina's In· tel'\"CIltlon in cassaw value chains. According to hlsdlo;closurt:6c!US,\'t!lyto TheGwroiaflat the w~kend. ~~ n Statt: is one of U,e ten largest proti U~rsOIQSS.1VO! In Nlger\.a. lt protiuc«fl.8l million tons of fres" roots in 2009. Ogun State isalso one of the foamast states in ca.uaVii procl'SSing In thecoulitry.Ofthe 105SMEsand lour large procl'SSlng pla'lts producing high quality assav.. nour (FlQCl'),]3 SMEs and tWO l:lr,$e IIQCF mills,lncludhlg Tfl, ilrt: In Ogu n Sta Ie. Re\'ll'wlng lhe recent/last history of cassava productiolland pIOO::~S ngand rr:assuri nj(lhat things are gOi ng LO better, he Inform«fthat. M uncfer the GlS!'i3va Ifilllsform<lII0n.)3 SMEs In OgU II Scate that hall fold«1up cl ue 10 the d is· contl nuiltion of purchase of c.usava nour are now being upgr.Jdd ;lIIld cenUlw for produc· lion of quallty HQCI. Ordm of at leasl lS (O ilS a ~k art: In process of nf'KQliation with wheat nour Millers for each SME to ensure that their neHvork of out-grov. a famlers benefil from the ongoing tn'Ira!isatb n of the cassava sector In
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XPRESSING funher his invol ....ement In at· tempts to resto re farmers' and processors' confidence in tl Ie cassava·rr:latw business. he pointed out that, ·In addition to HOCF, Ogun State also hilS a ca!sava·b.1sed glucost: plant. ElOtA /\G RO.ln lbah that requires 100 lOns of roots a day. Building a network of fannl'rs for EKHA-AGRO similar to what 0 m has ts ont: of tI)t: objKttves of the GlSS3va transformation op-er.Jtional plan in ~u n Scate.MThe ministcrd5closal that m out-growers e.lmc.d NluO mmlon from sale of fresh cassa\'a roots to l he company last year. ·rhls was cOITOborated by a m official last Friday: Or.Ad esi n~ Indicatmthat he looks forwilrd to what "would lead It'a mMkt:tof 400,000 mel· rlctonsorhlgh quality cassava nourand would mop up 1.6 millIon metric tons of cassava tu· 1Jers, soon: A s pok~mal\ of TIlal farms who Inderrt:d to remain anonymous.on Friday, told 'TIle Gu.lrdl.lfl mat, -If thIS minister ts alfowed and gtven support 1))' the gCM::mment. he will cha nge the wayN ig~ feros ilSl'If." HesaldTfl has abou t 1,000 f;toners who supply cassava 10 his com~ny and "\~-e ha~ beeri working hard to dCV!:lo,P oorv,Jlu-! dlalns.. • According to 1FI official, the minlsl'er ~has t"ken a strollg sClr:d and brt:athed a new lik~ into ilgriculture: In particular, Into cassava In· dusu;y. He said the' minister's Impact has been huge and dese"~1 to be givl'n crr:dIL He said lherr: has been an lr:lpllM!menl in rtC(!m II mcs In the uptake of wh It is produced, but said that this is tfle beginning. l he cassa\'a lra nsformatlon teams are currenlly In [)ella, Edo, Ekiti, Osun, Abi.!, Enugu, and Anamb raStatt:: Otht::r States to be reached before the end of fle }'t"ar include NoHsaraw,),
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WOrXers producin, cassava nour wilhin the bt:lory of Thai Films International, Ososa, BenlK',Tarabol, Cross Rivers. FCr,and RiYen,Mthe dudng UQCF,garrt,and odou ri~ fufu In Ogun Alako, ldo local govemmt::111 arra to Mgeneratc 400 IOns pe:rdayor 240,000 tons minister volunttotred. TIll' cassava transfon na· State. llll'SC proassOlS feed millions of lXOpll' demand ofM tion plan was rolled OUt In Oodo, Kwara, Kegi wllhln the state and \..iIgos, as wt:1I as pfOVlde permonlh. Making these SMEs ')nd dusl'ers of COllage States last Wttk. Dr. Maltins Fregenl', Dirl!Ctor, )obs for tens of thousands of womell. M~I e Solid Bio GwaVol r lus Prtw"ame at thl'St..louis-based SMEs In lbadan pnxlucing HQCf, that had procoessors molt: effident and more hygienic, he a process 10audit Donald Danfonh rlilllt Science Cenl~ in Mis· foldw up due to the earlier collapse of the polntW out wasa priorltyas M soun, U5,also told 11JeGu,mJiolllon Friday that HQCF lnarket,art: being upgr.tlletl and ccltlfied and upgr.!de their equipment and infr.ntruc· he was travell ng wi th a team 1'0 KogI Stall' to as- for su~ply of HQCf to wheilt miller clusters uf tu rt: is a part oftlleopefdtional plilfL MHe notttl furthe r that Mlncomes for UlOuSilnds of people sess the cas~va production Slatus there Ac- gam , (uti/,and 'J(ufl producers. cording to Dr. Fregene, pan of the work being "At lean nine clusters spread over lbada n. and food security for the mban I)oor still de· doll(' now is to ~Ive moribund caS!'i3Vi1 pro- Isqrln,Oyo, and OkeOgun, ha\'l' been Identified pends on these SMEs, although thel are inefn · ccssingplants. He ~id two mills bui ld during for upgrade of infrastructure-water, roads, and dent and, In somcC.l.c;es unhygte nic ilnd "these Obasa njo's regime, which later we nt under, the physical surrounding - for more dfictent processors represent a major market fortens of h ave just been rr:vi~. and h)'gienlc production. Each of these dusters thousandsorfanners. ~I e IlQ{W tim Mmulually beneOdallong term Fregene said another plant in Onda State,Sun· requires 100 tons of ClSS3va pe:rda)'. tra nslating shine nour mills, h.15 also lust come back from to a demand Of 270,OOO tonsof fresh rools per ll'ialJonships between fanners and processors the brink. Ue said his team has gone through yea r for tile food lnarket alone." lie said M two through di,)!ogue and training in supply chilin southwestt::rn states, oru.e.rving tha:t Mthert:: Is companies have alrt:ady indiGlt« 1 they \vill milnagemcnl are crilicallo tile success of the GISSilva glut, Mb UI promised Ihal tI~ "will en· build S\vet:tener/starch plan ts in lseyin and ClSSil\'a sub-sector In Nlgl'r\.a.~ sure.that supplygaps art: not o-eatw as efforts '."are now being made to ensurt: that the SMEson cassava (ne;uly 100 of lhem, espcda:llycassava processors) lIlat have gone monbund are . .J brought back into operatlon. "Nigerian fanners cannOl be sowing in hope and reaping In tear5, /usl benusc you want to make fann ers 111 ot ler countries seiling us wheal harpy. This IvllI not happen under my watch. \',e must put the Interest of Nigerian rarmers first, Mthe agricullU rt: minister \lOwed. The laid-down thl' rules, according 10 him are ':-:. ·'/1 thilt "the gO\'t"ml11em could eitherb.1n me 1m .. '··,: 1,t'. ;~. .;. ponof wFieat nour,incrra..se the tlnff on wheat . '/' ~'"" .~ . ,... . , ,r'I ~ ~ '''f'" -1 fIour.orthecomp.lnles l1uyand US(" 10 percent ',{~~ :. high quality ca:ssava nour In their bread and omerconfectionaries. TIle nour mills chose to ~Mi\~~!R @~~ Q @ g~ " Cr~Q dolO j)l'rcentsul1sLitution of cassava nour: ~I e t h (0 mel noted that he h;1(1 infonncd the IndustIy that he would back up this decision w1t1llegisfation. Implementation of activities of the cassava transfonn.ltion Is bt:lng nrried out via Memo-
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i A nvites''A1i Pig Farmers to,a
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Jmptroovlng Pig Me-nagemen' P ..actlces foor beHe .. Pell'formClnce and Ptroofl.
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federa.l and Slille governments, thl' minisleru· piained, su-esslng thai M state governors art: 011· rt'.1dr rr:sponding very j"lOslti\'t"I)I- He disdoKd that work hasstant'dln eamestinOndoSLate, whert: the 6«utiVl': goo.-ernor, while recriving theGl.SSiJ\'il tra nsformation team In Alrurt:,gid the approach builds the capilclties of stales to compete on value chains of colllpara.ti~ adVilnlage. The scale govemor, he said, was e1.dtcrl about the CiI$$ilva transformation work on the ground and promlsr:d 10 invesl In parmership with the Federal Ministry of Agricu lture and make SUIl' tllat youth unemployment \vill berome a thin,$. of the past In four years. llle timingis right. In Ogun Statl', he said, the implementiltion is being done through the o-eadon of the Ogun StateAgriculruralTransfontla llon Implt:men. lation Croup (ATIG) and CAssaVii Tra.nsforma· tion tt::am working with the Federal Department of Agriculture Ill' ~hoed Go\<emor Ibilrunle Amosun as expressi n~ deJi1;ht at the Mnew direction being taken III dnving change~ In agr1culturt:. Hesakl lheactivities of the cassava transformation In oe:un State will be closely m onl tOrr:d~ Moniton ng and Eva lu· atlon (M&E) team, be onlng wit h a base-line suIl't")' of cassava pi UCI ion a nd processing In theSt;lte. ARJ from Ihe large IndU5trlal SGlle processors. the minister added, "the~ a:1"l': ny small and medium-5Glle processing plant'> (SMEs) ;tnd d usters of processors pro-
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rrof. 8ytvIl'In Oboh (Professor of AnlmBI Science) Ambrose Alii University Ekpoma other topiCS to be dh5cussed Dr Potun Oladellt 1, Labor81ory Screening for esrfy .p,.ullk..r
deler.tlon snd control or dl~lIselS In pigs Wlttl emphe"ls on African swine fever
2, Innovellve solutions to health end ml!lnegement problems In swint production In NIger1a
, ANIMIXPIG ·IMMVNO-PP PLUS ·ZOOIiX • FO••OTlIIM (INJECTAlIL!1 Location Venue IBADAN WAARI
JORt)OR C.NTRE
Anlm 3.1care J!OrvlC95 konsult
• Dr Ttmd. Ifem8de Mr Chimera Jo••ph
Animal Care Services I(onsult
Date
25TH OcT 2011
MOTHlft aF RJIlDIIMl!ft'. 27TH OCT 2011
Time 1GA,M PROMPT 10A,M PROMPT
CATtfOLlC CHURCH ",IArO'" JUNCTION
Enqulrl •• : Chimera: 08050280351, Nlren: 06050280749