Post by Trade Coach on Jan 10, 2022 21:13:09 GMT 1
This is What Ghanaian Farmers Did To Double Their Income from Cassava In 2021; What Is Holding Their Nigerian Counterparts?
Nigeria has about 1.8 million cassava farmers in the country. What are the major problems facing this nation on cassava, why have we not been able to solve the problem? We are going to critically look at the issues involved and see what farmers in other countries are doing to solve their own problem and what to be done to replicate the same in Nigeria.
Despite being the largest producer of cassava in the world, Nigeria consumes more than 90% of cassava it produces annually.
According to FAO (2018), world cassava production stood at 278 million tonnes, Africa produced about 170 million tonnes of the production volume, while Nigeria produced 60 million tonnes of the product.
A study in four districts of the Volta Region in Ghana doubled their productivity of cassava by 61 per cent simply by using improved species of cassava in three years.
They were a group of 187 farmers in the districts of Ho West, Adaklu, Central Tongu, and Ho Municipal; they adopted the improved cassava variety under the “Modernizing Agriculture in Ghana Project” (MAG), and this subsequently increased their revenue from Ghc 5,040 in 2017 to 10, 662 in 2020 on average.
The study was carried out by the Science and Technology Policy Research Institute (STEPRI) of the council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and it was disclosed in a MAG dissemination workshop held in Accra Ghana in December 2021.
The study revealed that while non-adopters increased their yield by less than 1 per cent, from 7.57 metric tonnes per hectare in 2017 to 7.61 metric tonnes per hectare averagely, the productivity of the adopters increased by 62 per cent, from 8.15 metric tonnes per hectare in 2017 to 13.18 metric tonnes in 2020.
From the analysis we have seen so far, we can conclude that Nigerian farmers both large scale and small holders can easily increase their cassava yields significantly by using improved planting materials and technology.
The current average yield of cassava per hectare in Nigeria is about 10.6 metric tonnes per hectare; but it is currently 14.5 metric tonnes per hectare in Thailand.
Cassava is a very important commodity in the country and Africa in general, therefore the reason why serious attention is being paid to it by all and sundry.
A Professor of Biochemistry, Polycarp Nnacheta Okafor has advised Universities of Agriculture to spearhead the research on Cassava.
He said this when he was speaking on the topic: Metabolism Of Cassava Cyanide and Jim Jones Cyanide in Humans, during the 52nd inaugural lecture of the Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike, Abia State, Nigeria.
The Don said that one of their research findings has shown that there is a novel way of producing cassava flakes (garri) with low glycemic index and residual cyanide and would thus serve as food for diabetic patients. Garri normally is not recommended for diabetic patients.
He also said that cassava still holds great potential in social and economic growth of Nigeria, being staple food for millions and contributing meaningfully to food security without compromising food safety.
According to him “Nigerian government should through its relevant agencies like Standard Organization of Nigeria (SON), and National Agency for Food Administration and Control (NAFDAC), among others, to rise up to the challenges of ensuring that foods, drinks, water and the environment do not contain toxicants and chemical carcinogens beyond the limits set by Codex Alimentarius Commission, which is a joint international body of FAO/WHO, which Nigeria is a member”.
Our company is one of the best companies in agro export business in Nigeria today, we train individuals and corporate organizations on how to do export business the right way; if you are interested, please contact the admin of this forum now.
Nigeria has about 1.8 million cassava farmers in the country. What are the major problems facing this nation on cassava, why have we not been able to solve the problem? We are going to critically look at the issues involved and see what farmers in other countries are doing to solve their own problem and what to be done to replicate the same in Nigeria.
Despite being the largest producer of cassava in the world, Nigeria consumes more than 90% of cassava it produces annually.
According to FAO (2018), world cassava production stood at 278 million tonnes, Africa produced about 170 million tonnes of the production volume, while Nigeria produced 60 million tonnes of the product.
A study in four districts of the Volta Region in Ghana doubled their productivity of cassava by 61 per cent simply by using improved species of cassava in three years.
They were a group of 187 farmers in the districts of Ho West, Adaklu, Central Tongu, and Ho Municipal; they adopted the improved cassava variety under the “Modernizing Agriculture in Ghana Project” (MAG), and this subsequently increased their revenue from Ghc 5,040 in 2017 to 10, 662 in 2020 on average.
The study was carried out by the Science and Technology Policy Research Institute (STEPRI) of the council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and it was disclosed in a MAG dissemination workshop held in Accra Ghana in December 2021.
The study revealed that while non-adopters increased their yield by less than 1 per cent, from 7.57 metric tonnes per hectare in 2017 to 7.61 metric tonnes per hectare averagely, the productivity of the adopters increased by 62 per cent, from 8.15 metric tonnes per hectare in 2017 to 13.18 metric tonnes in 2020.
From the analysis we have seen so far, we can conclude that Nigerian farmers both large scale and small holders can easily increase their cassava yields significantly by using improved planting materials and technology.
The current average yield of cassava per hectare in Nigeria is about 10.6 metric tonnes per hectare; but it is currently 14.5 metric tonnes per hectare in Thailand.
Cassava is a very important commodity in the country and Africa in general, therefore the reason why serious attention is being paid to it by all and sundry.
A Professor of Biochemistry, Polycarp Nnacheta Okafor has advised Universities of Agriculture to spearhead the research on Cassava.
He said this when he was speaking on the topic: Metabolism Of Cassava Cyanide and Jim Jones Cyanide in Humans, during the 52nd inaugural lecture of the Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike, Abia State, Nigeria.
The Don said that one of their research findings has shown that there is a novel way of producing cassava flakes (garri) with low glycemic index and residual cyanide and would thus serve as food for diabetic patients. Garri normally is not recommended for diabetic patients.
He also said that cassava still holds great potential in social and economic growth of Nigeria, being staple food for millions and contributing meaningfully to food security without compromising food safety.
According to him “Nigerian government should through its relevant agencies like Standard Organization of Nigeria (SON), and National Agency for Food Administration and Control (NAFDAC), among others, to rise up to the challenges of ensuring that foods, drinks, water and the environment do not contain toxicants and chemical carcinogens beyond the limits set by Codex Alimentarius Commission, which is a joint international body of FAO/WHO, which Nigeria is a member”.
Our company is one of the best companies in agro export business in Nigeria today, we train individuals and corporate organizations on how to do export business the right way; if you are interested, please contact the admin of this forum now.
