m ---- ------~
Fl:lIIAY. AUGUST 17. 201:
in9u~~trY
-
-
-- -
-
Cassava initiative'll revolutionise economy -Adewumi The C{(s~a ua Development Initio" ue is a FederaL Government's redefining scltcme aimed at divcJ'sifying Nigeria 's economic and revenue base along tile cassal1ct processing and production valu e chain. In tltis inte rview with LAYI ADELOYE, the P"csident, Nigeria Cassava Growers Association, Mr.
Olusegu n lI'ficheal Adewumi, speaks on the ope l'anon of the n e w Cassava Bread Dc oclopmen t Fund, its operations and multip lier effects on tile economy. {AT re..tll y is the scope of the new W,Dread IIcvclopment Fund?
CasSO \ ' U
In lenns of IItj~ti\·e. it is t he Federal Go\'crnment's lates( effort :0 em ure thai the \'anous stakeholders in the production 1md p rocessing value ehain of cassava benefit from the C:r.;twhi ~ Cassava Development Initiative. Of co u rs~, ther! is no 1>001 of fund from which anyone can draw at present 1"0, the government has not created such. What it has con"i" to proposea Fundthrough which money will be g~n el ate J lor the development of the Cassava bread initia m'~ an:! OIh':r associated d ~elopmc n ts. \\lmt Olen will be the lIIode of o l,e r ation of this Fund? Essential ly, tl' ~ Cassava Brend Development Policy does nut he~i n and end with th~ achievement of 40 per cent ca'>.$a','l1 inl,ul into bread making. It is far bigger than that For instan,;e the development of the cassava industry (where we cas lava growers come in) is an important segment of lite lmtiative. The Fund is not eXpected 10 have mon ~ dump!< into it (as some will expeCI). The way it is now is 10 ha\ oe 65 per cent of aU imported wheat going into the Fill d. Fr 1m our diSf'ussion with the govemment, the I'r~j«li m s for tIle Fund to ha\'e a sum of N600 bn gros:.ed in <I nUIU.·r ofone year fQrthc development of the whol e wlnt' ch.•ill of the cassa\';l iuduslry. II is like using what \,'e an alle.,dy used to, which has ~en gulping Ihe gain in the futu re from this policy. America exports most natiun's mc n~ , 0 develop our own taste aod economy. of its wlll:al and Nigeria is the num ber one producer of We arc us. d 10 bread wheat. and we are used 10 its cassava in the .....orld, why can't we deve10p our strength? Another eriticism against the ussa\·a initiati\'C impllrtatim' . If w.! are to d~velop a ne\" i n itiativ~ Ihrough cass.lVfI, th \' n tb. process can hest thrive by usi ng what is that there is ab solutely n othing on the ground we 3~ al r~ dy Lll ed lo-whk h is diverting from e:r<penses to inspire s tal(eh olders to embrace it. l-low do ~'ou on whtal tnlPO 1ation and ~msumption of same wheat to see Utis position? TIlal is ra r fromlh e truth. The government has already deYflop our local cassava val ue dmin gradually In tcnnSOrt p 'ration, the Fund will havt 65 percenlof o rde~ the importation of machinery from China to build IS plants to process cassava iuto high quality flour, wha :~\-er amOi n : of wheat imported go inlo th~ Cassava Bre.. d De'ldopmeni Fund. The avel'age estimate is that bringing cassava flour output to 1.4 million tonnes a Ihe country sJ)( n ls N635bn on wheat importation yearly. year. Another set of machine!)' has been ordered for tIle Through lJ-e n !\ ' levy, about 40 Iler' cent of the amount construction of five starch processing firms. The cassava is nl)W t.xp'!clrd to stay in Nigeria, ror the development proc~ssing plants are brand new ones, but we already of tl'.e caS:M1\'a in, lustry. This "ill benefit cassava growers, have slarch processi ng plants, which these additional five processon ani Tlaster bakl'rs al thl' end of the day. The will onl)' bolster. How will Ule Initiate benefit USSR\'a growers? projection is tILa no less than N250bn is t.xpecle<.l to be TIle Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, a\'ailable ) !an)' for the cassa\'8 industry developmenr from the Ft nd l his wiU enable the different stak~holders Dr. Akinwunmi Adesina, who mid\~ived the policy, has in the casS;1\'3 vdue chain to operate and prosper, all in repeatedly lal1le-nted the over N635bn expended annually on wheat importation. He says we spend belween $4bn the interest of h! economy. For insh1n, t he Nigeria Cassa\'8 Growers Association, and Ssbn yearly on whea t importation. According to him, our motive IS t nlobilise members for cassava production ; this situation is not only unsus tainable but is also creating to make e'I.... I)' 'Cl':sava grower prosper in the business. BUI jobs for fam1ers in coun tries where the commodity is this measure ill not be lim iled to growers; olhers in the being imported from, while Nigerian farm~rs are under· value chail1, i dudi ng proceSS()f'S, bakers and other end untilised. From Ihis t.'X planalion. we can see UUlt the policy \,i11 users \Iill ben 61 eventually. promote, at least, 20 per cent If the iJli~·.Ilive is s u ch a lofly one use of cassava flou r in bread as yo u IInd l the go\-erlUll enl h a ve production at the initial stage, been l por~vlng it, why have yu u which will encourage massive not bc ~ ublf' t o cart")' masl er b akers local cassava production, as an{l some o~h ' ! r e nd users of wheat il will reduce dependence on producl'J ald n: ~? wheat. Don't forgel that the One thing !we should realise is that target is 40 per cent cassava change i~ aj'a ''S a difficull thing, no input into bread by 2015. By ma lt~r what ;)rospects it has in stock 100 the larget )'~ar, the cassava fo r individual . fh ey a~ mostly used to sectoral productive capacity wheat,iL'iUS a ldtheattendalltgaills. To is expected to have grown get USt.od 10 ca Java and its many gains ror tremendously. them andlhe !Conomy, tIlere is need ror H ave )'ou discussed enlightenn' en , )alience and a deliberat~ the operative methoW; atte-mpt 10 emb 'ace the chall! e. , don't o f getting the benefits think Nigt'rial.. will be poorer with th~ new polk, on, cassava and th~ increase in duty on wheat realised lin d fe lt by stakeholders aeross the flour as it u bl ir \gargued in some quarters. tf yo u look at COWllr}' with the government? I will like to lalk on the ben~fi ts r~laling to my areaIh~ amount of:l, ,Jlars (bcl\ ... een $4bn and $s bn or N635bn on the aV~HI.gI) >eingspeut on importing wheat annually, gro\li ngof casS.1Va. CurrentIy, there are th~ programmes it is too hIgh arid developing an alternative in cassava on the ground . The firsl one is the Peasant Fanners holds gn:·a -~ ~ )fits for tht' count£) . Nigeria has a lot 10 Programme. while the second is the Graduate farm ers
"Our hope is tltat in tlte next tltree years we will have not less titan cassava processing factories in tlte country"
Programme; and the third is the Full Mechanisation Programme (which may involve big-time fanne rs and graduates of Agriculture). How will each oflhe programmes wurk? Under the first programme, peasant farmers a~ to fonn themselves into cooperative groups, with ~ach having 25 members under one Agricultural E.'dension Officer. The extension officers will id~ntify their famls, measure out the cultivable portions, d lan nel to them subsidiud inputs and loans, according to the size of their famrs, supervise and report their rarming activities, facilitate sales of tIleir produces, e.nsure repayment of bank loans and release of the balance to th ~m as profit. The National Youth Service Corps will also have a key role 10 play here. We have approached the NYSC th rough the Cassava Transformation Team for the sccondment of members to cassava programmes as Agric Extension Officers. TIle landed property requi red for this operation r8ng'!S between one and 10 hectares of land . Under Ihe Graduate Famlers, our association, NCGA, has arranged a prosperous career for graduate farmers. Each fanner will be given a block of fi ve hectares in Ule fi rst year; anoUler fi\'e hectares will be added 10 his portion yearly, until he has 25 hectares in the fiftll year. In the first year, he may eam NSoo,ooo. It follows that his profit in the fifth year will be N,Un. Allo\vances of Nlo,ooo will be adva nced to him for every five hectares. This will be deducted from the proceeds of the sales of his harvest lale.r. Under the Fully Mechanised Fann~rs category, we art working with the Cassava Transformation Teanl to creat~ fully m«hanised ramlS, whose produc~ \lil1 be affordable 10 the ethanol, flour and industrial starch processing factories. Right now, we ha\'e received the locations for the IS cassava flour mills, each of which \";11 process 240 metric lonnes of fresh cassava daily. After s u ch a m nss h 'e producliu n , w h a t will h app e n to unsold eassa\'a? ls the re a ny plan 10 guard against h an'est losses? At the initial stage, \"e expect such. TIle plan on the ground is that such cassava th at may not be accommodated by the cassava bread arrangement will be processed into gom (cassava flake). Currently, the plan is that such, with the expected estimate of olle million metric tonnes of unsold cassava, will be milled (processed) into gari. We are installing modern gam mills in every Senatorial district to mop up the availabl~ cassava. We have requested 1l1e Cassava Transfomlalion Team to secure a purchasing order ror 200,000 metric lonnes of gam rOT one year from the relief agencies, including tIle National Emergency l'.lanagement Agency. Are Ulcre safcty vakes that \\iJl make these programmes attractive to yo ung gTuduates, espedaUy owing to fear o ffailul'"e? The Federal Government, Ihrough Central Bank or Nigeria ilnd NARSAL, Ili lt guarantee 75 per cent of loans to cassava rarmers, while NCGA will cross·guar3ntee tIle remaining 25 per«nt. Fanners can, therefore, do farming \litIlOut tears. Besides, the Cassava Transfonnation Team will deliver subsidized ferti lizer, cassava stems and other inputs 10 the farmers through NCGA. NCGA "ill market th~ produce of the fanners at profi t. In a ll, what will these programmes translate into, in te nns of multiplier effecls? It follows that each cassava ractory \\ill req uire a minimum of 72,000 metric tonnes of cassava yearly. At conservative expected yield of 30 metric lonnes per hectare. we shall Ileed 2,400 culti\'OI.ble famll and witIlin a lo·kilometer radius to the facto ry. We shali arrange the abO\-e and planting "ill follow the timetable of usage. We shall also do the same for the existing factories thal at present lack adeq uate affordable cassava. Wilhin """'0 10 three years, we shall bring the farm gate price of cassava from m« hanised fanns dmm to N7,OOO, ....ithoul depleting tbe profit of tht participants. TIle price "ill continue to rail until we shaH sell ror N5,OOO per metric tonne of cassava. Our hope is that in the nexl three years we ",m have not less than 100 cassava processing factories in the count!)'. You musl know that ethanol, Oour, and industrial starch are raw materials fo r other ractories. This is to say the programme will trigge r industrial revolution which will creale employment opportunities for millions or skilled and unskilled labour.