The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh, on Thursday, September 8, that the country is targeting over $5billion annually from cassava production in the next few years
Ogbeh made this known in Abuja at the National Cassava Summit with the theme: “Toward $5 billion per Annum Cassava in the next five years.’’
The Minister said that the country had neglected agriculture in the last 30 years. He, however, added that the industry had the potential to employ more youths and improve foreign exchange.
He expressed concern over the very low number of farmers accessing credit facilities in the country. He said that the Federal Government would enhance and strengthen the Bank of Agriculture (BoA) to allow farmers access to credit facilities at 5 to 6 per cent interest rate.
“Most of the Commercial Banks give loan to farmers at 28 to 30 per cent interest rate. How do farmers grow with such a high interest rate and make profit
“We have to intensify efforts to address this problem in order to meet our target because earning in cassava industry is so high.
“Rural roads need to be rehabilitated for easy transportation of our farm products to the market. Our budget is small. We cannot in the Ministry level promise of constructing all rural roads. But something has to be done fast,” he said.
He, however, urged research institutes like the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, IITA, to include vitamins in cassava in the next research work to balance its nutritional content and better consumption.
