The Lagos government has urged local farmers to maximise the opportunities available in the cassava value chain to aid agricultural productivity and reduce the price of commodities, especially food items.

The Commissioner for Agriculture, Abisola Olusanya, said this at the fifth AgriQuest Africa Network (AQAN) Forum programme in Lagos on Thursday.

Ms Olusanya said farmers should adopt technology for massive cassava production to compete favourably in the international market and create wealth for themselves.

She said Nigeria, despite being the world’s largest producer of cassava compared to other countries, should utilise the crop’s potential to ensure greater yield based on the varieties of its stem planted.

“Farmers should always plant quality cassava stems, take cautions from replanting own seeds from the previous cassava crop year after year. This is to ensure access to adequate information on how to get quality stems so as to ensure high yield from their crops for more income,” she said.

Ms Olusanya called on agricultural scientists, engineers, and local fabricators to accelerate the development of new technologies to transform Nigeria’s agriculture.

According to her, these are the ones that are appropriate and acceptable to the majority of farmers, enhancing job satisfaction and increasing the farmers’ income base.

Ms Olusanya said farmers needed continuous training to increase yields over the 25 per cent target in response to market opportunities. She added that this could increase cassava productivity, guaranteeing higher yields and income.

Wahab Ashiru, the director of Project Development and Design at the Federal Institute of Industrial Research Oshodi (FIIRO), said the institute has an approach to scaling root and tuber crop processing and industrialisation in Nigeria.

Mr Ashiru added that the institute had successfully developed appropriate technologies and business models, promoted value addition, and reduced wastage of the crops.

“By adopting the FIIRO approach, Nigeria can harness the expertise and resources of the institute to accelerate the industrialisation of root and tuber crops and create employment opportunities. Also, we can enhance food security and contribute to economic development and diversification,” he said.

Mr Ashiru also identified limited access to innovative processing technologies and relatively short shelf life impeding value chain development. He said they also hinder the scalability of production and distribution to processors and markets.

According to him, among other things, insufficient research funding significantly hampers the advancement of competitive agricultural products in Nigeria.

Mr Ashiru also mentioned that effective promotion of innovative technologies to enhance value chains was proposed to address these challenges.

The executive director of AgriQuest Africa Network, Abiodun Olaniyi, urged the states and federal government to ensure an enabling environment and provide subsidy for local farmers.

“Subsidy is needed in agriculture because it also talks about life. This can be in terms of assistance to farmers, subsidising the price of equipment for processing. This will make the government to control the price in order to cushion the effect of the high price of agricultural products,” he said.

Mr Olaniyi also urged farmers to get more knowledge about building their capabilities.

(NAN)