According to Prof. Chiedozie Egesi, CEO of the National Root Crops Research Institute, the federal government is getting ready to increase cassava output in some areas of the nation.
He said that the FG will encourage smallholder farmers to grow cassava and connect them to companies to create a sustainable value chain system.
In Calabar, the capital of Cross River State, he delivered a speech at a Cassava Value Chain Stakeholders’ Workshop sponsored by the National Agriculture Growth Scheme and Agropocket (NAGS-AP).
According to him, the workshop’s results will assist the institution in creating a workable framework for the cassava component that will be incorporated into the comprehensive national strategy.
He promised that the workshop’s proposals would focus on five important crops: wheat, maize, rice, soybeans, and cassava.
Numerous important players showed up for the workshop with the theme “Cassava: Maximising the Full Potentials of Nigeria’s Golden Crop.”
The Commissioner for Crops and Irrigation Development, Hon. Johnson Ebokpo, was in attendance to represent the Cross River State administration, which organised the event.
He revealed that in order to ensure food security and boost financial returns, the state administration has started extensive cassava farming.
He said that the government set aside 100,000 hectares of land to demonstrate its commitment to expanding large-scale cassava farms as a means of lowering the cost of related items made from cassava, such as garri and foofoo, etc.
This area of land is used by the state’s agricultural programmes and for the production of cassava.
Farmers and other stakeholders should invest heavily in the production of cassava, according to Ebokpo.
He said that all crops are currently being included in a digitised state-wide soil and fertility map exercise that has been commissioned.
Statisticians, according to Ebokpo, “indicate that in 2019, China sold more than 4 million tonnes of cassava and its related goods, the United States shipped about 1.5 million tonnes, and Japan exported 1 million tonnes. Nigeria, the economic hub of Africa, cannot thus contest the enormous advantages brought about by the widespread cultivation of cassava.
He declared that it is now essential to provide an agricultural environment that allows cassava producers to take advantage of the numerous and unexplored agro-opportunities to achieve desired objectives.
In order to secure the creation of a sustainable cassava production strategy for the state, he assured that his Ministry will take advantage of this competitive advantage and collaborate with stakeholders from other sectors who are prepared and eager to invest in agro-businesses.
