PRESIDENT JONATHAN’S CASSAVA TRANSFORMATION PLAN

In its bid to exploit the economic potentials of Cassava, the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan has on Saturday, April 28^th launched the Commercial Cassava Transformation Action Plan, at the State House, Abuja. President Jonathan, who launched the initiative, said the action plan is capable of generating 1.3 million jobs in the next four years, make Nigeria the largest Cassava processing country in the world, as well as expand the market for Cassava farmers towards rapid economic development.

The President first revealed his enthusiastic plan on Cassava bread since November last year, during the Federal Executive Council Meeting. After testing the Cassava bread during the meeting, the President vowed not to eat any bread except Cassava bread, and immediately directed his cabinet to come-up with a policy to encourage the production of Cassava bread in the country. The team, which comprised Finance Minister, Agriculture Minister, Minister of National Planning, Trade and Investment, and the Chief Economic Adviser to the President, who fully understood the President’s enthusiasm about the Cassava bread, dedicated so much time and effort until they produced a comprehensive action plan for the commercial transformation of Cassava, which was launched during the weekend.

According to the action plan, 18 large scale Cassava processing plants would be constructed within the next 24 months, to be located in areas of high Cassava production. The action plan also envisaged that  Nigeria will be the largest Cassava  processing country in the world, and will consequently be able to save  over 250 billion naira foreign exchange, as a result of reduced import of wheat and wheat flour, which Cassava is expected to substitute. Other benefits of the initiative as contained in the document include, creation of job opportunities, creation of market for farmers, stabilization of price and ultimately giving the country the pride in consuming what it locally produces and processes. The plan is also expected to support the local content initiative of the government, as well as its efforts towards diversification of the economy focusing on non oil sectors that could serve as strong alternative sources of revenue for the nation.

Cassava is one of Nigeria’s abundant endowments by Nature. The country is the highest producer of Cassava, producing over 34 million tons of the produce annually. It is also the raw material used to process Garri, one of the cheapest food items in Nigeria, on which the sustenance of millions of Nigerian families depend. Indeed, poor Nigerians couldn’t have been happier with the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) that discovered Cassava flour, which can be used to make bread, another cheap and widely consumed food item. Other commercial potentials of Cassava include Cassava grit, which is used in poultry farming and dry Cassava chip, which has a very high demand in the international market

It is unfortunate however, that a country like Nigeria, endowed with so much mineral resources and arable land with the capacity of producing enough food to feed much of the West African sub-region, has turned out to be heavily dependent on importation of even the basic food stuff like rice, wheat, millet and maize consumed by the citizens. This of course can be attributed to the failure of successive governments to make adequate investment in the agricultural sector, towards harnessing the abundant human and material resources of the country for the revitalization of the sector.

In view of the numerous socio-economic benefits that can be derived from the federal government’s Cassava transformation action plan, many Nigerians will indeed, welcome the idea and even render their support and cooperation for the success of the initiative.  President Jonathan’s Cassava dream for the country could be described as one of the most laudable initiatives of the present administration. It is therefore hoped that the government will exhibit high level of commitment towards realizing the dream, as well as adopt similar transformation drive and strategy for the exploitation of other resources and potentials, for the rapid socio-economic development of the nation.