The Nigeria Cassava Grower Association on Wednesday appealed to Nigerians to embrace the Federal Government’s cassava policy. The Lagos State Treasurer of the Association, Mr Funmi Dawodu, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos that using cassava in bread would reduce production cost.
He said that the policy, which was formulated by former President Olusegun Obasanjo, would help reduce dependency on imported wheat flour. Consequently, Dawodu said that the nation would conserve some foreign exchange by using mixture of cassava and wheat flours for bread baking.
According to him, the mixture is really good, it has being tested and found to be very good and without much difference from the imported flour. He said that the policy would have encouraged local farmers and created jobs for the youths that were interested in agriculture.
“If Nigerians can have good attitude toward their home made goods, which can compete favourably with imported goods, then bread will not be as expensive as it is today,’’ he said. He said that the recent hike in price of bread was uncalled for as it discourage many Nigerians from eating bread.
“Let us revisit the cassava bread, which is cheaper, nutritious, affordable and readily available to all income earners.’’ Dawodu said that farmers were ready to give necessary support to government policy on production of cassava. He, therefore, urged Nigerians to give the policy the necessary support by patronising cassava bread.
