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Wednesday 21 August 2013
FG to build cassava processing plant in Akwa Ibom
The Federal Government has completed
plans to build cassava processing mill with
a capacity of 72,000 metric tons of high
quality cassava flour in Akwa Ibom State,
as part of its agricultural transformation
agenda.
Akinwunmi Adesina, minister for
agriculture and rural development, who
said this in Uyo, the state capital, in
commencement of Pro-Vitamin A Rich
Cassava variety stems, said “the Federal
Ministry of Agriculture and Rural
Development will locate here in Akwa
Ibom State one industrial scale modern
high quality cassava flour processing mill.”
Adesina said the proposed processing mill
would use 300,000 metric tons of cassava
roots per year, saying “this is one of the
things President Goodluck Jonathan was
able to negotiate in China when we were
there. With that, Akwa Ibom will become
one of the major processors of high
quality cassava flour in Nigeria.
“This is Akwa Ibom State where you are a
massive producer of cassava. Nigeria is
the largest producer of cassava in the
world and we are determined that we are
going to be the largest processor of
cassava in the world. We are going to
turn our cassava into high cassava flour so
that we can replace some of the wheat
that we import.
“Nigeria has no business importing food at
all. We have everything; God has blessed
this country. We have land, cheap labour,
we have great sunshine and we have
population to eat what we produce.
Nigeria should not be importing food;
Nigeria should be self-sufficient and
should be a net exporting country for
food. In any case, I will not be a minister
for food importation, that is not my job.”
Speaking on the Pro-Vitamin A Rich
Cassava, the minister said many
households suffered from
malnourishment, and called on
government to improve nutrient value of
family staple.
According to him, “our goal is to reach
1,500,000 household this year and to
expand that to 1.8 million households, 70
percent of them being women. We know
that 30 percent of our children and 20
percent of pregnant women are strictly
affected by malnutrition in Nigeria. Most
of them don’t have access to micro
nutrient. This is why we must accelerated
effort in decision and policy marking to
improve nutrition for venerable group, in
particular women and children. We must
scale up micro nutrient intervention. As
we provide vitamin A through these
varieties, we are actually building a future
for the children.”
The state governor, Godswill Akpabio, said
the Akwa Ibom government had placed
premium on cassava programmes to
“make food sufficiently available to the
people, through collaboration with
international agricultural agencies…. Your
choice of Akwa Ibom State as one of the
pilot states in this hub is indeed not a
misplaced. As a government, we have in
the last six years placed premium on
agriculture aimed at ensuring food
security.
“We are told that this improved varieties
hold part of the solution to Vitamin A
deficiency in Africa. The cultivation and
consumption of these varieties would
therefore bring succour to children and
pregnant women. Besides improving the
health and nutrition of the people, the
cultivation of the varieties would also
provide jobs, improve incomes and lift
poor households out of poverty.”
Akpabio, who said Nigeria produced “34
metric tons of cassava annually” and there
was need for intervention that would
either improve or maintain the status-
quo, said “it is why this initiative aimed at
improving the nutritional value of the
product must be commended.”
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