In Sierra Leone, No More Overdependence On Imported Wheat Flour

by Aruna Turay - Jun 16, 2009

In Sierra Leone, the Ministry of Trade and Industry indicates that over 20 million US dollars of wheat flour is imported annually into the country for use in producing bread and confectionary products. The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) has partnered with USAID to help end that overdependence on the imported food ingredient. Previous research for development activities by IITA in other African countries had demonstrated wheat import substitution by High Quality Cassava Flour (HQCF) at up to 10% in bread and ... read more ...

Rwanda: Regional Scientists Move to Curb Cassava Pandemic

June 14, 2009
Kigali — Following the emergence of Cassava Brown Streak Disease (CBSD) in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, scientists the great lakes region have moved to curb down on the root crop pandemic before it gets out of control. The disease seems to be the latest in a series of crop pandemics that have ... read more...

Nigeria: Cassava stakeholders ask for subsidy to boost export

Stakeholders in cassava production, utilisation and development yesterday met in Lagos where they charged the Federal Government to provide subsidy and other incentives for the development of the crop as obtains in other countries, if Nigeria is to achieve set revenue targets in cassava production.

At the meeting were representatives of the Flour Millers Association of Nigeria (FMAN), Nigeria Cassava Processors and Marketers Association (CPMA), Cassava Farmers Association (CFA), Association of Small and Medium Scale Industries (NASI), Nigerian Institute of Food, Science and Technology (NIFST), Bill and Melinda Gate Foundation and the Federal Institute of Industrial Research Oshodi, (FIIRO).

The stakeholders, who met at the premises of FIIRO, also asked the Federal Government to rescind its decision to strike out flour from the Export Prohibition List.

The meeting noted that the delisting last year had opened the floodgate for the importation of all sorts of flour into the country, most of which failed to meet laid down criteria, including the requirement that flour to be used in Nigeria must have 10 per cent cassava content and be fortified with Vitamin A.

According to the stakeholders, the high cost of producing cassava has made it difficult for the country to meet its cassava export capacity and the demand by consuming nations.

A participant who represented FMAN at the meeting, Alhaji Olalekan Saliu, cited the recent case of Chinese firms that wanted some high-quality cassava chips, which demand Nigeria could not meet due to high production cost.

Saliu lamented that the high cost has made Nigerian cassava products non-competitive in the international market.

Director-General, FIIRO, Oluwole Olatunji, said cassava was a magic crop that could yield as much foreign exchange for Nigeria as crude oil if conscious attention was devoted to its production and diversification by government.

According to him, one way government could aid the development of the crop is by elevating its cultivation from subsistence level to commercial farming by making low interest credit available to cassava growers.

Addressing the gathering, Project Manager, Cassava: Adding Value for Africa (CAVA), Prof. Lateef Sani, said while Nigeria was the largest producer of cassava in the world, Thailand remained the world's number one exporter of cassava products.

He therefore, called for concerted efforts among stakeholders and the government to overcome this discrepancy.

Representative, Bill and Melinda Gate Foundation, Mrs. Ijada Mckena, whose organisation is funding CAVA in five African countries including Nigeria, urged the stakeholders to do more to accelerate the realisation of CAVA's objectives.

Mckena renewed the pledge of the Foundation to continue to partner the private sector and other stake-holders in the overall interest of CAVA to ensure that farmers in particular and other investors involved in cassava revolution projects reap commensurate gains.

National President, NIFST and Vice-Chancellor, Bell University of Technology, Prof. Adeyemo Adeyemi, informed the meeting that the Bill on 10 per cent cassava flour inclusion in bread-making had scaled the second reading at the National Assembly.


Source: ngrguardiannews.com

Publication date: 6/9/2009

Cambodia: 1st cassava processing plant to be built

A DRY cassava processing plant is under construction in Banteay Meanchey's Svay Chek district, which local businessmen say will help cassava farmers and boost the domestic industry.

The 6-hectare facility, which began construction a week ago, will be the first of its kind in the Kingdom that is able to dry and store cassava, according to businessman Te Haing, who is funding construction of the plant.

"Cassava farmers will be happy when this factory is up and running because it will help dry their cassava and store it for the market," said Te Haing, who owns 1,000 hectares of cassava farms in Banteay Meanchey.

Previously, he added, Cambodian farmers have sold cassava directly to Thai businessmen who have dried cassava for export overseas.

Lacking processing facilities of its own, Cambodia was hit hard when the Thai government blocked the import of Cambodian cassava at the beginning of 2009 in order to protect Thai farmers. Only last month was the blockade lifted.

"I am very disappointed with Thai officials banning the export of Cambodian farmers' cassava into Thailand. It taught me that I should build this factory to help our farmers export their goods to other countries," he said. "When we have this factory, we can dry and pack cassava for export to China, South Korea and other countries."

He added that the plant would be completed in two or three months at a cost of US$1 million.

Banteay Meanchey provincial Governor Ung Oeun welcomed the construction of the factory, calling it "good news" for the province's cassava farmers.

"Before, farmers expected Thai businessmen to buy cassava, but the Thai government has banned Cambodians' cassava," he said. "Soon, they will not need to wait for Thai businessmen; they can dry cassava in Cambodia and pack it to sell overseas."

He said there were 20,000 hectares of cassava farms in Banteay Meanchey, capable of producing 750,000 tonnes of cassava crop. In addition, Battambang and Pailin provinces had the potential to produce another 1 million tonnes.

Farmer Seng Lida, who owns around 10 hectares of cassava fields in Pailin province, said the factory was an excellent idea and called on the government to build more processing plants - including canning factories - to help bolster the agricultural sector.

"When there are factories, people will plant trees and crops for them to produce. But there is not yet any factory for canning fruits," he said. "If the government wants to reduce poverty inside the country, they must find investors and build factories."

Source: www.phnompenhpost.com

Publication date: 6/4/2009

Nigeria: ERA flays testing of 'Super Cassava'

Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth, Nigeria (ERA/FoEN) and over 30 other civil society groups in Nigeria have condemned the alleged approval by the Federal Government for the Donald Danforth Plant Science Centre, United States, to conduct field-testing of a genetically modified cassava christened "Super Cassava" in Nigeria.

They described the alleged approval as trading away Nigeria's food future to modern colonialists hiding under the cover of agricultural biotechnology, and said the proposed test must be halted immediately.

ERA/FoEN's position is premised on the recently reported approval of the National Biosafety Committee (NBC) for the National Root Crops Research Institute (NRCRI) Umudike to go ahead with plans to conduct "contained" field trials of genetically-modified cassava on the banks of the Qua Iboe River, Abia State..

Details of the approval was revealed at the annual meeting of the American Society for the Advancement of Science, held in Chicago, U.S.A on February 13, 2009, where it was announced that Nigeria's NBC had given the Danforth Centre approval to carry out field trials for GM cassava in collaboration with NRCRI.

In its reaction to the development, ERA/FoEN warned that the back door approach of the biotech industry and its Nigerian allies to introduce GM crops in the country will not only endanger Nigerians but is also a "breach" of the

Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety which Nigeria is signatory to, which seeks among others to protect biological diversity from the potential risks posed by living modified organisms resulting from modern biotechnology.

"Nigeria does not need any super cassava. The genetic modification of cassava to produce Vitamin A is fraught with many dangers to the health of Nigerians who depend on cassava as a staple. Some years back the biotech industry engineered the so-called golden rice to be rich in Vitamin A, but one would need to eat 9 kilograms of that rice to have as much Vitamin A as one would have from eating just two small carrots! The golden rice was a golden hoax and the super cassava will turn out to be super fraud", said ERA/FoEN

Executive Director, Nnimmo Bassey in a statement issued in Lagos.


Source: allafrica.com

Publication date: 3/11/2009

Nigeria: 'Super Cassava' to enter field trials

An ambitious attempt to bioengineer cassava into a "complete meal" took a step forward last week with the approval of field trials for the plant by Nigeria's National Biosafety Committee. The genetically modified cassava contains 30 times as much beta-carotene, a precursor of vitamin A, as its normal counterpart. Ultimately it is hoped the cassava will contain increased levels of iron, protein, zinc and vitamin E that will meet the minimum daily allowance in a 500 gram meal.

"This is one of the most ambitious projects ever attempted in a major crop plant," said Richard Sayre of the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center in St Louis, Missouri, who spoke at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, held in Chicago, the United States last week (13 February).

Sayre directs the BioCassava Plus programme, which began in 2005 under the Grand Challenges for Global Health Programme. The challenge is to provide complete nutrition in a single staple crop.

Some 250 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa - and 800 million people globally - rely on cassava as their main source of energy. But it is low in nutrients, vulnerable to plant viruses, and it lasts only two days without processing.

As well as adding extra nutrients, the team has successfully produced varieties with increased virus resistance, decreased amounts of poisonous cyanides - which can remain in cassava if the crop is poorly processed - and a longer shelf life.

"We're transforming it into a staple that will provide complete nutrition," Sayre told SciDev.Net. Laboratory and greenhouse tests have been successful - for example, iron levels were increased ninefold, zinc fourfold and protein fourfold. The next stage is confined field trials - small-scale field trials to evaluate the performance of the crop under stringent conditions.

If those succeed, there will be nutrition trials, first in animals and then in humans. Nigeria's approval is the first it has granted for a GM confined field trial, said Sayre - though the document awaits the signature of the country's environment minister. The Nigerian National Root Crops Research Initiative will oversee the trials.

So far the traits have been introduced individually into plants. The first product with multiple traits is likely to contain just elevated vitamin A, iron and protein as well as virus resistance. "To add the other four is going to be technologically more challenging," said Sayre. The team also hopes to begin confined field trials in Kenya, to be overseen by the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute, before the end of 2009.

"We are now in the process of training African scientists in our labs. They are going to learn the technology to make a transgenic cassava plant. They will return and make the final products themselves," said Sayre.


Source: allafrica.com

Publication date: 2/24/2009

Rwanda: Cassava growers urged on quality

The Minister for Trade and Investment, Monique Nsanzabaganwa, has called upon cassava farmers to improve the crop's quality, while pledging government's full support to put up processing factories that will add value to the produce meant for export.

Nsanzabaganwa made the appeal last week, while meeting cassava growers in Ruhango district on a three-day working tour to assess how the ministry was supporting local investors in the province to stimulate development.

"The supply for cassava is promising locally but the demand both here and abroad is very high because Rwandan cassava is very delicious," Nsanzabaganwa told the Ruhango district local investors.

In the words of Nsanzabaganwa, "to sustain the interest of potential stakeholders, the cassava industry needs champions willing to improve the sub-sector's performance, including the setting up of the necessary processing sector to back up the increased production".

She urged farmers and would-be farmers to take advantage of the country's comparative advantage in cassava cultivation to increase its international market share.

"We (government) are planning to support locals put up factories that will process and add value onto the cassava into quality flour but the farmers need to first improve on their production quality levels".

According to the Minister, cassava production has been "promising only that farmers have to be supported to improve on the quality of what they produce."

Today a huge portion of the produce is exported to DRC and Burundi which necessitates the private sector to carry out a systematic campaign to do business in a well coordinated manner with its neighbouring countries.

Cassava production is still carried out on a small scale despite the high demand.


Source: allafrica.com

Publication date: 2/11/2009

Nigeria: Cassava growers association gets American support

In an effort geared towards achieving food security in Nigeria, the Nigeria Cassava Growers Association [NCGA] at the weekend disclosed that it is presently collaborating with the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture, (IITA), Ibadan in accessing aid from the United States Aid for International Development (USAID) to assist cassava growers in the country boost their output this year.

In a statement signed by the Nigeria Cassava Growers Association's National President Chief Moses Ayinmodu, the farmers' group stated that it strict the deal with the United States based organization as a way to make a positive and significant contribution to president Umaru Musa Yar'adua' 7-Point Agenda which includes Food Security for Nigerians.

The Nigeria Cassava Growers Association (NCGA) also disclosed that it is at the moment disbursing a N200 million [two hundred million Naira] loan facility it secured for its members across the country from the Nigerian Agricultural Co-operative and Rural Development Bank in Kaduna.

The group stated thus; "Nigeria Cassava Growers Association is presently collaborating with International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA) Ibadan in accessing aid from the USAID for cassava growers in various parts of the country. Under the programme, five thousand (5,000) good cassava growers are being selected in each of the ten states specially selected for this purpose. Each participating farmer will be given planting materials of improved and high yielding varieties of cassava and assisted to plant one hectare successfully. The programme is expected to commence at the beginning of the coming rainy season".

The main aim of the programme according to it, is to make planting materials of improved and high yielding varieties of cassava readily available to the ordinary farming families in the rural areas.

"In the first year, the high yielding varieties of cassava will be multiplied on 50,000 hectare of farmers' farmland. It is expected that by next year, there will be enough planting materials of these high yielding varieties throughout the country. Presently, the average cassava farmer in the country is obtaining only about 12-15 tons per hectare. Whereas smaller countries like Thailand are obtaining over 40-50 tons per hectare. This programme being sponsored by USAID aims at making Nigeria a country where the average cassava farmer will be producing 40-50 tons of cassava per hectare. The implications of this programme are clear", it stated.

The group stated that prior to the introduction of this USAID Assisted Programme, Nigeria Cassava Growers Association had been distributing planting materials of some improved varieties of cassava to cassava farmers in Sokoto, Kano, Katsina, Taraba, FCT, Kogi, Plateau, Ebonyi, Kwara, Enugu, Zamfara, Anambra, Niger, Kebbi and Nasarawa States, from RTEP cassava multiplication farm in Nasarawa State, with the financial assistance of Raw Materials Research and Development Council. Additional assistance promised by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources is still being awaited.

Lamenting that one of the factors constituting a bottle-neck in cassava farmers' attempt to increase their production is the inadequacy of agricultural credit facility and the difficulty in accessing the limited credit available, Nigeria Cassava Growers Association said it has therefore been making concerted efforts to assist members of the Association in various parts of the country to access agricultural credit from various sources.

"A part from the paltry amounts of loans obtained with great difficulties from the Nigerian Agricultural Co-operative and Rural Development Bank in Kaduna, some credit facilities have been obtained for the cassava farmers", it said.

Chief Ayinmodu who is a national award winner of the officer of the order of the Niger (OON) further stated that; "these include, among others, N60 million interest free loan from UNDP for cassava farmers in Osun State, N100 million loan from the Flour Millers Association of Nigeria, (FMAN) in 2007 for over 1,000 cassava farmers in various parts of the Country, N160 million loan from UBA Bank for cassava farmers in Osun State with guaranty from Osun State Government. Efforts made at getting NDDC to assist cassava farmers in the Delta States have not yielded any positive result. However, fresh attempts are being made to get the new Federal Ministry of Niger Delta, to come to the aid of cassava farmers in the region. Similarly pressures are being put on some State Governors who have shown some interest in cassava production, (e.g. Ekiti State), and some Micro-Finance Banks to provide cassava farmers in their States and area of coverage with adequate micro-credit. In 2008, NCGA signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Nigerian Agricultural Co-operative and Rural Development Bank in Kaduna for the provision of N200 million loan to members of the Association in the various States of the country. The loan is still being disbursed but rather too slowly".

The group further announced the introduction of innovative farmers' market information Global System of Telecommunication, (GSM) in collaboration with service providers in the country.

Chief Ayinmodu said thus; "one of the problems facing Nigeria Cassava Growers Association is the difficulty in marketing members' cassava and cassava products, mainly as a result of poor Market Information System (MIS) in the country. Some months ago, the Presidency through NEPAD Nigeria Office organized a series of workshops on Food Security at the end of which a National Plan of Action on Food Security was drawn up. The development of a Market Information System is a priority item of the National Action Plan. Nigeria Cassava Growers Association, working with other Commodity Associations, such as Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria, Cotton Grower Association of Nigeria, Sesame Farmers Association of Nigeria, Messrs Farms to Market Synergies Limited and Zain Nigeria took up this challenge and developed a Farmers Network to fill the gap. The Farmers Network is a Close User Group (CUG) that will offer a wide range of discounted services to subscribers who are stakeholders in the Agricultural Sector".


Source: allafrica.com

Publication date: 2/9/2009