The Federal Government of Nigeria has declared that the cassava farmers across Nigeria could produce 40 million tonnes of cassava per hectare with the new improved variety of the crop developed by the International Institutes of Technology Agriculture (IITA).
Director at the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD) Karina Babangida stated this during the workshop on capacity building of youth and women farmers in the North-West to address the yield gap in cassava held in Birnin Kebbi.
Babangida, who was represented by Hakeem Raji, Deputy Director at the Ministry, explained that Nigeria despite all challenges, still leading the world in cassava production.
According to him, Nigeria is the world’s leading producer of cassava despite its low yield of below 10mt/ha, compared to other countries such as Thailand.
‘However, the country had the potential of having good varieties that could give more than 40mt/ha.
She explained that cassava, which is in the prime position commodity in providing food security, raw material for many industries such as pharmaceuticals, ethanol and others, could attract more people if efforts were made to improve productivity.