Forum to boost use of cassava in industries

He disclosed this at a press conference in Lagos ahead of NBGN’s first cassava investment forum billed to hold in Abuja today, saying Nigeria is still not adding requisite value to cassava through processing.Eze, who said these developments are reasons why Nigeria is not benefitting much from the crop, advocated the need to give renewed […]

He disclosed this at a press conference in Lagos ahead of NBGN’s first cassava investment forum billed to hold in Abuja today, saying Nigeria is still not adding requisite value to cassava through processing.
Eze, who said these developments are reasons why Nigeria is not benefitting much from the crop, advocated the need to give renewed attention to the development of the cassava sector.
“Major studies conducted on cassava at the end of the 20th century have predicted the growing importance of this crop in Africa’s economic development. It has great potential to spur rural development, raise rural incomes and contribute to food security.
“Cassava is a food security crop that is able to transform the country’s economy.
“With about 45 million tons annual production of cassava, Nigeria is the largest cassava producing nation in the world,” he said.
He said the forum intends to help further the transformation agenda of the present administration with respect to cassava as an economic crop for wealth and job creation, saying it also aims to attract substantial private sector investments to develop and promote the necessary cassava value chains in Nigeria and in the West African sub-region.