Cassava Bread: The Bittersweet Taste

Tell Magazine




As Nigerians await the arrival of cassava bread, government moves to encourage the production, processing and milling of cassava in order to boost the agricultural and industrial sectors, as well as create employment opportunities



He has been dubbed the chief priest of 40 per cent inclusion of cassava flour in bread. And for Akinwunmi Adesina, minister of agriculture, earning such a compliment after presenting the sample of the cassava bread to the presidency some few weeks back is no mean achievement. It just clearly showcases the minister’s initiative designed to boost agriculture and agro-allied industry in the country.

Under this initiative, cassava farmers are being encouraged to expand their trade. To effectively integrate agriculture with industry, companies are being encouraged to invest in cassava processing ventures across the country. Besides, flour millers are being encouraged to see the need to include cassava flour in their products.  According to Adesina, “Under the agriculture transformation strategy, we are working so hard to create a new market for cassava growers. With such a development, job opportunities would abound and markets opened up for cassava farmers.”

But that alone is not what is pushing the interest of the federal government in reviving the inclusion of cassava flour in bread making. As the minister puts it, “The project will save the country about N656 billion a year when we substitute cassava for wheat importation,” adding that “one of the things that are very exciting for us is the high quality cassava flour which allows us to make substitution for some of the wheat flour in bread. That substitution alone at 40 per cent will save us a lot of money. So, this will create a lot of jobs, create markets for our farmers, stabilise prices and give us a sense of pride in that what we are eating is what we produce.”

Research has been ongoing to complement the minister’s efforts. Researchers at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, IITA, Ibadan, Oyo State, for instance, have been inspired to produce bread with 40 per cent cassava flour content. One of them, Richardson Okechukwu, who disclosed this to the magazine, stressed the need for a re-awakening to the various uses of cassava. “The multiplier effect of processing cassava into different types of products will generate more employment opportunities for our teeming population in urban areas as well as those in the rural areas,” he said. Apart from the production of garri and fufu, local staple foods, Okechukwu gave an insight into the various products that can be derived from cassava. According to him, “It is now common knowledge that cassava is used for the production of food seasonings, flour, ethanol, starch, and livestock feeds. One can also make cassava chips, cassava root doughnuts, cassava meat balls, cookies, sausages, chin-chin, and cassava egg roll, to mention a few.”  He said cassava is also used in the oil drilling industry, coal mining, paint industry, cosmetics, and also in the production of glucose syrup, high fructose syrup, citric acid, and even fermentation vitamins including lysine and some other B group vitamins.

No doubt, cassava has attained a new status as the “green gold” in Nigeria. It is also an important tuberous plant in sub-Saharan Africa. Industry experts are of the opinion that if cassava is properly harnessed, it could replace oil as the major source of revenue for the country. Dupe Olatunbosun, a professor of Agricultural Economics, and former chairman, Ogun State Cassava Revolution Programme, has stressed the need for the country to revitalise the agricultural sector through massive production of cassava, which he refers to as “the new gold.” For the professor, massive cassava cultivation would not only boost the non-oil sector, it will also serve as a vehicle for social and economic development of the country.  While supporting the minister of agriculture’s position that the nation will save a lot of money if cassava is put to right use, Olatunbosun said “about $5 billion (N7.85 trillion) was expected annually as revenue both from export of cassava derivatives and import savings on wheat.”

Apart from its economic benefits, Olatunbosun said the focus on cassava has become imperative given the global efforts to shift emphasis from oil, which has been the country’s major source of revenue. “The present global climate crisis has introduced a new dimension to our desperate situation. The current global warming situation has resulted in major industrialised countries of the world trying desperately to move away from fossil fuels particularly hydrocarbons (gasoline) because of their damaging effects on the environment and their increasing prices. There is now a frenzied research into bio-fuels with tremendous breakthroughs being made in the United States of America, Europe and in South America,” he said.

A frightening dimension to this, especially as it will affect the country, is the report that the current escalation in international wheat prices, resulting in the 50 per cent reduction in the quantum of wheat from Australia into the international market “has been caused by the fact that half of this year’s wheat harvest in Australia has gone into the production of bio-fuels. The use of bio-fuel is gaining ground in Europe and America because it is relatively cheaper and environmentally friendly. This growing trend has grave implications for Nigeria. “There is the likely danger of reduction in our earnings from crude oil as a result of the reduction in the global demand for hydrocarbon fuels,” says Olatunbosun, adding that the only way out is for the country to diversify its foreign exchange earnings through a renewed focus on agriculture.

The call for the nation to diversify its earnings away from crude oil is not new. Over the years, there have been calls on government to encourage agriculture and agro-allied industry. Cassava production and processing have been seen as one area that deserves urgent attention because of the socio-economic benefits of the crop, which was why the cassava initiative policy of the Olusegun Obasanjo administration was widely acclaimed. As part of that policy, his government mandated all flour millers in the country to include 10 per cent of cassava in their flour for bread making. “Were this policy to be faithfully implemented, the flour mills in the country would require no less than 300,000 metric tonnes of cassava flour annually,” Olatunbosun notes.

But it remained in the realm of rhetoric because when the implementation of the cassava initiative began in 2006, flour millers reluctantly started milling flour with the required 10 per cent cassava flour content only when they were threatened that their factories would be shut down.  With the passage of time, the flour millers through several ways frustrated the policy, and what was meant to provide the vehicle for socio-economic development of the country gradually hit the rock.

On why the initiative failed, Okechukwu told the magazine that the flour millers who were supposed to be buying cassava flours from the processors failed to do so and the result was a crash in the price of cassava flour. With low patronage, the processors could not sustain their operations and many of them had to fold up, leaving many breadwinners out in the cold, and leading to a great loss for the investors.

Lateef Sanni, a professor at the University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Ogun State, added that what eventually put the nail in the coffin of the cassava initiative was the high cost of cassava then, which was more expensive than wheat. Said he: “When in 2002 the Olusegun Obasanjo administration came up with the presidential initiative on cassava, so many activities were drawn up to increase cassava production in the country. To achieve this, about 10 disease-resistant and high-yielding cassava varieties were developed by IITA, in collaboration with the Natural Root and Crop Research Institute of Nigeria, NRCRIN, all state agricultural development projects and ministries of agriculture. Because of the level of interest generated, not a few farmers were encouraged to go into massive cultivation of cassava. But the interest soon waned and most of the farmers have now kept away from the crop. Their grouse is that they were made to produce more cassava resulting in a glut and huge financial loss, as there were no plans to absorb the excess quantity produced. Many of the farmers were indebted to financial institutions from which they obtained loans to engage in large-scale cassava farming. The twist in the tale was that reduced production level after a period of glut triggered a hike in the price of cassava.”

One major challenge, which advocates of cassava flour may face, is how to convince flour millers that Nigeria’s cassava flour is of good quality. Many of them expressed the fear that not many processing companies abound, and that the cassava flour may not be adequately processed to meet the desired quality. But all of these appear to have been given considerable thought as the minister of agriculture has promised not to leave any stone unturned in achieving success of the policy. The minister has commenced meetings with various stakeholders in the industry: farmers, cassava processors, flour millers, as well as the end users – the bakers.  He is optimistic that with Nigeria becoming the world’s largest producer of cassava, there is no reason the new policy should fail.

Bayo Folarin, outgoing national president, Master Bakers of Nigeria, MBN, urged those pushing for the inclusion of cassava flour in bread making to publicise the recipe they used in arriving at producing bread with flour made up of 40 per cent cassava and 60 per cent wheat. According to him, the bakers are ready to use whatever is available as long as it is meant to add value to their business. “We are the end users and we rely on the flour millers to give us good quality flour. If government is saying they can create an enabling environment for the production of good quality cassava, and the flour milling companies are willing to churn out good quality flour, we don’t have any problem. But remember, we need to be taught how to prepare the cassava bread so that our customers will not reject the product,” he said.

Still sceptical about the taste and appearance of the cassava bread, Folarin would want government to slowly introduce the 40 per cent inclusion of cassava into bread making, citing the reasons the 10 per cent initiative failed. “We need to remember that one of the main challenges that we faced then was the non-availability of cassava flour. We were just trying our hands on inclusion of three per cent when the whole initiate collapsed. Now that we are being encouraged to try 40 per cent, we need to tread with caution. Our fear is whether the cassava flour (will) be readily available, as we don’t want to be left in the cold again,” he said.

On the issue of availability of the cassava flour, Louw Burger, managing director and chief executive officer, Thai Farms Integrated Limited, Ososa, Ogun State, said flour millers and bakers need not worry. He said although the country’s flour mills require about 700 metric tonnes of high quality cassava per day, there are some processing companies which can provide some capacity needed to keep them in business. Citing the example of his company, Burger said Thai Farms, which commenced operation in July 2010, has the capacity to process 60 metric tonnes of high quality cassava, while there are others in various states that have capacity for between five and 30 metric tonnes. “We are increasing our capacity and I am aware that some of the flour millers are encouraging massive production of cassava.  At the moment, we have employed 1,000 farmers to plant cassava, and I spend about N1 million every day buying cassava tubers to keep the factory rolling. So, there is really no need for the millers to worry about availability of flour,” he assured.

Another worry for the bakers is that the taste of cassava bread may not be acceptable to people. They fear that the taste may be poor and that its shelf life may be short. But Okechukwu allays such fears: “Just as we have Ghana bread, Cotonou bread, Korean bread, we can as well have Nigerian bread. Let us even get to the level of achieving 10 per cent inclusion, then we will not be worried about developing the economy through some other means. If we set out with achieving just 10 per cent, about 40 million Nigerians will be employed in various agricultural sectors,” he said.

Burger shares this view. According to him, the huge amount spent on importation of wheat flour could be re-channelled into the provision of basic amenities in the country. “We need to understand the dynamics of encouraging cassava usage. When we encourage farmers to plant more, we are putting money into their pockets, more unemployed youths will stop running after white-collar jobs and pick up jobs as farmers. More of such will go into agro-allied industry, more will fashion out technologies that will help revolutionize the agricultural sector, and before we know it, Nigeria will be on the path to economic recovery. But more importantly, there will be food on the table,” he said.

Olatunbosun has urged government not to succumb to pressure. “The present administration should resist the blackmail of the wheat importers, majority of whom are the elite in the society. Nigeria will not collapse. It was Pandit Nehru, first prime minister of India, who said after India’s independence in 1948 that if India could not produce enough textiles to clothe its teeming population, she should go naked. Indian textile mills roared into action, churning out millions of yards of various designs of cloths. He also said if India could not feed herself, it was more honourable to die than to be dependent on another country before Indians could eat. That was the beginning of Indian grand agricultural industries.”

Will Nigeria take a cue from that?