Nigeria loses $6.3bn annually for dumping Jonathan’s cassava-flour initiative –Report

Policy inconsistency, and lack of continuity from one administration to another cost Nigeria a whooping $6.3 billon annually.

According to a report by the African Tropical Farm Initiative (ATFI), the country
could have saved not less than $6.3 billion annually from importation of wheat and flour, had it sustained an initiative by the Goodluck Jonathan-led administration promoting cassava-made bread and other confectionery, according to a report by African Tropical Farm Initiative (ATFI).

The agency, an organ of the African Food Programme , in its biennial report, titled: “Food situation Update” published on Monday, commended efforts of some African countries in their efforts to be self sufficient in food production as to reduce foor insecutirty in the continent.

The report stated that Nigeria’s consumption of cassava flour would have been increasing on yearly basis of 1:4 in the first two years, 1:2 in the third year and 1:1 ratio in the fifth year, if the cassava flour replacement programme had been sustained.

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It recognised the initial effort by “Nigeria between 2012 and 2013 when it introduced a robust programme of promoting cassava flour for use in most stable food in the country, particularly bread and other items.

“The county (Nigeria) boldly took up the initiative to encourage farmers on cassava growth with which to sustain cassava-flour for all bakery-related food items.

“But from reliable information, Kenya, Somalia and Comoro Island, all of which imitated Indonesia for the programme, are still filing reports of progress, unlike Nigeria, which had spent substantial resources on the programme,” the report said.

It could be recalled that the then Minister of Agriculture, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, received accolades from the international community for the cassava flour initiative, despite pressure from multi-nationals and countries which are Nigeria’s suppliers of wheat and flour.

Adesina’s elevation to head the African Development Bank was said to have been informed by his consistency in guiding Nigeria through the path of economic growth, using the agriculture sector.

However, the President Muhammadu Buhari administration is alleged to have kept the programme in abeyance on the reason that Nigerians have not accepted the new flour usage for confectionery.

Though it was learnt that the Minister of Agriculture, Chief Audu Ogbeh has promised stakeholders that efforts were being made to restart the programme, nothing is on the ground to prove so, said a senior government official.

A former banker and now a full-time farmer, Chief Nickolas Iroamuntu, put it this way: “Some of us went into farming business when government indicated its interest in giving real support to agriculture to be the third force of the economy. But what we’re seeing is far from being real.

“As it stands today, even if the cassava four project had succeeded, there could have been shortage of raw material (cassava tubers), because the initial agreement with the authorities that a special enabling fund for genuine cassava farmers to have loan facilities, is still in the budding stage, five years after it was agreed on.

“Also, the new breed cassava stem that could help in improvijg yields is still not easily available to the farmers,” he stated.

But according to ATFI research, work on modern agriculture has been at the disposal of most developing countries, ading that some of them had made positive use of it.

Another report says lack of funds has contributed in research institutions, including colleges of Agriculture in Nigeria not coming up with new approaches for modern farming.

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