By Fatima Saka
The Federal Government has said that despite Nigeria’s potential in cassava production with an estimated 60 million metric tons production potential, yet the average yield of the crop is still much lower than the production in some Asia countries and other cassava production countries.
The Director, Federal Department of Agriculture, Engr. Abdullahi Abubakar, disclosed this during the workshop on capacity development for cassava farmers on good agricultural practices, control/management of whitefly on cassava farms, on Thursday.
According to Abubakar, the workshop was necessary to sensitise farmers and other stakeholders along the cassava value chain through to spread the basic concept of agricultural best practices on whitefly and disease control in cassava production.
He detailed that the importance of cassava as both food and source of foreign exchange earnings is unprecedented, and there is a need to continually promote and develop the crop to achieve its potentials.
He also said that the commodity also has widespread industrial applications and a huge potential to drive economic growth in the country.
Among the industrial derivatives of cassava, he said, include: starch, ethanol, cassava chips, pharmaceutical and confectionary industries.
He further added that the Ministry is committed to promoting the agricultural sector through collaborative efforts with relevant stakeholders by unbridling its potentials to drive health, food and nutrition security as well as economic growth, job and wealth creation.
Mrs Omolara Oguntuyi, the Regional Director of the Ministry, South West Zone, said the Ministry is actively working towards achieving food and nutrition security through its various activities by using a combination of policies and appropriate agricultural technologies that would lead to job and wealth creation as well as improved standard of living.
One of the ways, She said the Ministry is working to achieve this objective, is through the promotion of crops such as cassava in which Nigeria has comparative advantage in production.
“Pest control is vital to crop cultivation because of the negative impact caused by pest such as decreased yields, increased production cost, transmission of secondary diseases, interference with harvest and lower product quality,” She said.
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