A call has gone to the National Assembly to pass into law a bill on compulsory inclusion of cassava flour in bread and confectioneries for economic growth and development.
The Director-General/ Chief Executive Officer, Federal Institute of Industrial Research, Oshodi, Dr. Gloria Elemo, made the call on Tuesday in Ibadan at a seminar organised by the Nigerian Institute of Social and Economic Research.
Elemo, in her lecture entitled, ‘The prospects and challenges of cassava bread and confectioneries in Nigeria’, said the inclusion of cassava in bread production and confectioneries would boost employment, reduce importation of wheat and boost foreign exchange earnings.
According to her, with 54 million metric tonnes produced locally per annum, Nigeria is the largest producer of cassava in the world.
She lamented that in spite of this, the country was not active in the international market as the bulk of the production was consumed locally.
Elemo said, “There is the need to look inwards for export substitution. This will be beneficial to all; it will meet the food security issues and save our foreign exchange. Diversification of cassava into new foods as an import substituted commodity has high potential benefits.
“If adopted, 20 per cent inclusion of cassava in bread and confectioneries would help in employment generation.
“In January 2012, the National Bureau of Statistics indicated that the rate of unemployment in Nigeria is 23.9 per cent. Adoption of cassava bread as national bread can be used to tackle unemployment at the rural level.
“At 20 per cent inclusion, the demand estimate by flour millers in Nigeria is 1.2 million tons per annum. About six million tons of fresh cassava roots are needed to meet the production. About 3,000 SMEs could generate 150,000 direct jobs with an average of 50 workers.”
According to her, with the current value of wheat importation into the country at N635bn, a total of N31.75bn can be generated at five per cent inclusion. She stressed that N63.50bn could be made at 10 per cent, N127bn at 20per cent, N190bn at 30 per cent and N254bn at 40per cent inclusion.
The lecturer added that the goals of Vision 2020 could not be realised without home grown industries and inclusion of cassava into bread production.
Earlier in his address, the Director-General, NISER, Pro. Olufemi Taiwo, said, “We are interested in cassava being an important crop. Cassava is one of the three most important crops in the southern part of the country.
“We had held a similar programme on rice about eight months ago. This is our contribution to food value chain in Nigeria. In the case of cassava, we cannot afford another five years for cassava bread to be on our table.”