FG to reduce flour importation for cassava bread

The Federal Government on Thursday moved to reduce the importation of flour by encouraging bakers to add at least 10 per cent of cassava flour to their baking.

 

The Director of Agric Business and Marketing Department in the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD), Alhaji Musibau Azeez, announced this at a meeting with Cassava Bread Development Fund stakeholders in Abuja, the nation’s capital.

The meeting was organised by the Bank of Industry (BoI) and the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Development.

Azeez said the intention of the Federal Government was to ensure that farmers are able to produce enough cassava of up to 10 per cent to add to flour for baking.

According to him, if this is done, the amount of flour imported into the country will be reduced.

Azeez said the Federal Government, in 2013 and 2014, set aside some money to produce high quality cassava that could be used for baking bread.

The director regretted that some of those who borrowed the money for that purpose refused to pay back their loans without even using the money for cassava bread. “The bakers’ attitudes are that these are free funds and they are not going to pay back; only a few people paid back their loans,” he said.

 

The director said 86 per cent of the loans collected by bakers had not been repaid, while 23 per cent of the loans collected by processors were not paid back.

Azeez noted that to achieve the objective of reducing flour importation in the country and produce cassava flour, the Federal Government would cease to recognise factions in the bakers’ association until they are united.

He said the ministry was poised to change the face of cassava, adding that as a result of many coming into cassava farming, the prices of the tuber had drastically reduced.

The director said government needed the master bakers and processors to create jobs for the country.

He stressed that it was the reason the Federal Government extended the gesture to give out the loan.

The Chief Risk Officer at the BoI, Dr Ezekiel Oseni, expressed dissatisfaction with the way the loan were being repaid.

He noted that no deliberate conscious effort was made to repay the loans.

The risk officer said 55 beneficiaries from the master bakers sold their equipment, given as loans, adding that this was a breach of agreement.

“This raises a lot of concerns because the people are not willing to pay back while some blame it on the association that they were told not to pay.

“If you have sold the equipment, then we have no option than to use the law enforcement agencies to go after you because there is nothing to restructure in the loan again,” Oseni said.

The National Secretary of Master Bakers Association, Mr Jude Okafor, noted that though some members of the association collected the equipment as loans, “but not all of them collected”.

Okafor advised the BoI and FMARD to wave the interest rate and restructure the loan to enable their members pay back there loans.

The union leader urged the BoI to disburse other equipment for its members.

He decried lack of unity in the association because some people were not ready to relinquish their positions because of some perceived benefits.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the bakers’ association are factionalised because of the disbursement of the loan; while some benefited, others were not so privileged.

Pastor Timothy Soladoye, who represented the National President of National Cassava Processor and Marketers Association, said one of the reasons they found it difficult to pay was that farmers inflated the prices of raw materials.

He said off-takers were not buying the cassava flour, adding that this was the reason cassava flour value chain broke because they were not patronised.