For many years, Nigerians have seen only the food capacities of Cassava and many farmers only cultivated it as a supplier of a number of staple foods, while many will only pick a few tubers for sale at the local market when the need arises. Recent events have however repositioned the food crop as one of Nigeria’s major cash crops. In this exciting interview with Pastor Segun Adewunmi, the National President of Nigeria Cassava Growers Association, the potentials of Cassava if fully developed was exposed, while also addressing the challenges facing the development of Cassava and Agriculture in Nigeria.
We all grew up knowing Cassava and a lot about its bye products. Why the sudden fuzz around the crop and the enormous attention your organization seems to be getting?
Pastor Adewunmi; I thank you very much for the observation. Like you rightly pointed out, the sudden fuzz and attention is the bye product of the new consciousness that our organization is spreading across Nigeria. Over the years like you said, many of us knew Cassava for its staple capacities and the knowledge did not transcend that level, but today, we have surpassed that initial ignorance in bounds and that is why we are rapidly spreading the gospel of Cassava Farming and processing.
What is special about the Cassava Gospel that your organization is taking so seriously?
Pastor Adewunmi; let me start by saying that Cassava is one of the most productive crops in the World today. I am sure you know that most African countries have various staple foods made from Cassava.
In Nigeria alone, almost all the tribes have one staple food or the other that is a bye product of Cassava, such as Kpupuru popular among the Ekitis and Ondos, Cassava flour which is well loved by the Oyos, Egbas, Ibadans; of course there is fufu and Tapioca which are universal along the West African sub region.
You will agree with me that with the proper management of the crop as a food crop, we can effectively push food insecurity into the dustbin of economic history.
On the other hand, recent researches have shown an unprecedented growth in Cassava research, which has greatly enhanced the usefulness of the crop. We can derive highly sought ethanol and Industrial starch from the crop. So basically, that is why we are encouraging more people to imbibe the Cassava consciousness.
Aside from these uses that you have highlighted, what other positives can we derive from Cassava?
Pastor Adewunmi; As I have said, Cassava can single handedly battle the food insecurity that has suddenly become a global menace and Nigeria can be a major stakeholder in the new trend. Aside from providing the various kinds of food stuffs and more that I have not mentioned, it can provide about 4 Million jobs for Nigerian Youths from the various geo-political zones without any form of bias.
More so the opportunities for investments are numerous and open to all class of humans. You can invest in various aspects of the trade with your little capital and still smile to the Bank regularly. So for me, like death is the social leveler, Cassava is the ultimate Economic leveler.
You mentioned investment Opportunities and I am sure many people will want to hear about that. How and where can one put his money and be guaranteed return on investment?
Pastor Adewunmi; across the World, people require Industrial starch and ethanol two globally recognized bye products of Cassava and people with the requisite technology buy Cassava chips for the purpose of creating both; so the investment opportunity starts with a farmer who can provide large quantities of Cassava regularly.
There is also the opportunity for those who have the capacity to produce Cassava chips for those who require it for their processing and there is also the opportunity for those who are into processing for the production of ethanol and Industrial starch. And that is on the face value alone, not to talk of the many other areas which time will not permit us to discuss here.
Let me also say here clearly that the Nigerian Government can reduce drastically the reliance on Oil revenue as the tax and other revenues accruable from the internal and international activity around the crop can solve the problem of dependence on Oil revenue, which has been a blessing and our major problem. Nigerian spends close to 350 Billion Naira on the products that can be derived from Cassava.
Your proposal on Cassava farming and processing looks so beautiful and one would expect Nigerians to have embraced it by now. What are the challenges and why the slow acceptance?
Pastor Adewunmi; There is no doubt that things can get better as times go on, but I am not in doubt that the slow acceptance has been due to the poor availability of information on the latent capacities of Cassava as a crop. However, about the challenges, I will say that the main challenge today is the issue of mechanizing our farming in Nigeria, which naturally applies to all forms and shades of agricultural practices.
Cassava planting can get better, if government can provide adequate support in terms of infrastructural development, such as good rural roads, rural telephony, electricity and other social amenities and mainly a specialized loan scheme for farmers with a special credit line management for cassava farmers.
You will agree with me that with the current Banking system and its credit extension system, agriculture cannot grow.
On a broader note, another issue that has hindered agriculture in Nigeria is the issue of nomadic herdsmen and their herds. How has this affected the growth of Cassava production and its bye products generally?
Pastor Adewunmi; today, what we have is an itinerant farming system which has no room for the multi culture that Agriculture is. You will agree with me that Animal husbandry is an important arm of agriculture. Although nomadic practices are archaic, but have we created the requisite alternatives? Certainly no, so what we need to do is the creation of blocks of between Five and Ten Hectares of demarcation and the creation of fire tracing which will prevent fire incidents and protect farmers from the menace of the cattle rarers.
Sometimes ago the Government expressed some level of enthusiasm about the development of Cassava and it various bye products, but there seem to have been a lull. What happened between then and now?
Pastor Adewunmi; permit me to disagree with you that there has been a lull. What we only need to do is to move to the next stage, which is public response. Today, how many of us bother or care to know if our bakers are meeting the demand for the infusion of 10% cassava flour in the bread we eat.
You will recall that some years ago, President Olusegun Obasanjo introduced the cassava flour concept and mandated all flour mills to install 10 units millers with the capacity to mill 240metric tones per day between now and 2015, which I learnt most of them complied with. The Government is also collaborating with various stakeholders to install about 30/ 240 metric tones capacities, but have we all played our own part of the bargain?
So it is not just about the Government, there are rolls bestowed upon us as individual members of the society, we need to up our game if we want to move forward as a Nation.
On a final note sir, what do you think Nigerians; both in and out of government should do to improve the Cassava revolution?
Well, I strongly believe that Government should diversify the economy to rely less on Oil revenues, which over the years has brought us so much acrimony stemming from its uneven distribution and you will agree with me that almost every Nation of the World has become Oil producing one way or the other, while alternative fuels is one of the most researched topics across the globe. We can make more revenue from Cassava like Malaysia is making from Palm Trees today and even go one notch further.
The people also have to embrace government initiatives where the intentions are good or we can redirect the benefits to ourselves. We really need to up the Cassava game if we don’t want to be dependent on other nations for our survival in the next few years and the key to unlocking this potential is our Youth, who are busy chasing unavailable white collar jobs.
Finally, I wish to emphatically say that Cassava is the new Crude Oil of the World and as a Nation blessed with the necessary resources to take charge of the market; we must not miss the opportunity like we did with Palm Trees.
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