Nigeria is yet to benefit from the global billion-dollar cassava market despite being the number one cassava producer in the world, Executive Director of the National Root Crops Research Institute (NRCRI) Dr Kenneth Nwosu has said.
Speaking yesterday to newsmen at Umudike, Abia State, Dr Nwosu said high domestic demand, low production, poor harvest, lack of standard and specifications are some of the factors responsible for the failure.
He said the consumption pattern of cassava products in the country had not allowed the country an extra amount of cassava for other industrial activities such as starch production, cassava chips as well as animal feeds.According to him, the only solution to the problems is application of biotechnology in agriculture. He said it was sad that while many countries were benefitting from the new technology, Nigeria stills battles with poor production of crops, diseases and low output per hectare. He said the new varieties of cassava would stand the test of the international market.
On the 10 percent cassava flour initiative, Nwosu said the initiative had not yielded much result due to policy shift by government. He said the NRCRI in collaboration with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation was into Biocassava Plus project that would help multiply cassava roots and provide complete nutrition in a single crop.
Copyright (c) 1998 - 2009. Daily Trust - The online edition
