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Impact Of Survival Farming Intervention Programme On Cassava Production
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Nigeria‟s cassava production was targeted at forty (40) million tonnes
in 2005 and sixty (60) million tonnes by 2020 (IITA, 2002). The
presidential Initiative on Cassava Production and Export has increased
the awareness amongst Nigerians of the industrial crop, popularly
referred to as the „new black gold‟. According to Nweke et al.
(2002)cassava performs five main roles namely: famine reserve crop,
rural food staple, cash crop, industrial raw material and earning of
foreign exchange. Uses of cassava products are enormous. Virtually, the
whole plant from the leaves, stem and the roots has one use or the
other. Daneji (2011) posited that, cassava is one of the most staple
food crops in many households in Nigeria. The fresh peeled cassava roots
are eaten raw, boiled or roasted. They can also be boiled and pounded
to obtain "pounded fufu". This is most popular in the Eastern part of
Nigeria. The processed cassava, either in the form of flour, wet pulp or
“garri†is cooked or eaten in three main food forms: "fufu", "eba" and
"chickwangue" (Adebile, 2012). Cassava leaves are rich in protein,
calcium, iron and vitamins, comparing favourably with other green
vegetables generally regarded as good protein sources. Cassava can be
processed into several other products like chips, flour, pellets,
adhesives, alcohol, starch, etc which are raw materials in livestock
feed, alcohol/ethanol, textiles, confectionery, wood, food and soft
drink industries (Iheke, 2008).
In a similar vein, Adebayo (2009)
stated that processing the bulky, perishable crop is an obstacle to its
full commercialization in sub-Saharan Africa. To motivate farmers,
especially women who are the main processors of food in the village, to
grow and process their cassava, we need to provide them with
labour-saving implements such as graters, peelers, and crushers. There
is also need to link them to markets. Cassava roots are bulky and with
about 70.0% moisture content, are very perishable. It is therefore,
expensive to transport cassava especially along poor access roads.
Therefore, a well-developed market access infrastructure is crucial for
cassava marketing (Adeniji et al., 2006). However, focus should not be
on the exportation of cassava but to develop the enormous local and
regional markets for cassava that exist in the country, West African
sub-region and Africa as a whole rather than start exporting the
industrial raw material to Europe. According to Food and Agriculture
Organization Statistics (2008) Nigeria‟s cassava export in 2005, was
2,100 tonnes compared to the leading exporter, Thailand, with 4,384,350
tonnes. The performance evaluation of marketing component of cassava
initiative include, establishment of cassava processing centers in each
Local Government Area(LGA) of the cassava producing States (Yisa, 2009).
In this regard, rural people are encouraged to add value to cassava
products by processing it for industrial application and human
consumption. Processing of cassava into various shelf-stable and
semi-stable products is a widespread activity in Nigeria carried out by
traditional cassava processors and small-scale commercial processing
units (Henk et al., 2007).
1.2 Problem Statement
Nigeria has a
huge agricultural resource endowment and yet the population is facing
hunger and poverty. The agricultural sector is facing the problem of
sustaining food production to meet up the need of increasing population
in the country (Okolo, 2004; Ironkwe, 2005). Various governments in
Nigeria have consistently declared policies aiming at self-sufficiency
in food. The means toward achieving this objective has always been an
expansion in cultivated area and improvement on the yield. Cassava is
one of the major staple crops grown in Kogi State particularly in the
study area. Government intervention programmes and policies, and the
efforts of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) in support of
production, processing and marketing of cassava date back to the 1970s
(Adeniji et al., 2006).
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