Farmers in Benue State have been enjoined to use the knowledge acquired from the recent training by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture on cassava processing, packaging, value addition and utilisation to improve on the product to avoid rejection at the international market.
The state coordinator, Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Boniface Tongov who disclosed this during the training of 80 youths and women selected from the three senatorial zones of the state held in Makurdi explained that the training is aimed at educating and creating awareness for cassava farmers to know how to produce and handle the product before it reaches the end user.
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According to him, “The FG is targeting value chain addition for the product to encourage farmers to produce it in large quantities that will not only be used as food but will also be used for industrial purposes.”
While disclosing that the training has also introduced cassava farmers to different species that have a short time of maturity and a long shelf span if properly processed, Tongov urged farmers not to panic but produce cassava in large quantities informing them that the federal government has already made provision for the marketing of the product.
Also speaking, the programme manager of BNARDA, Dooshima Zaki, who commended the federal government for the initiative said, as one of the leading states in cassava production, Benue farmers also need a lot of sensitisation on the right cassava to plant, the right chemicals to also apply to nib in the bud rejection at the international market that the chemical use in the production of the product did not meet the international standard.
“The timing of the training is apt because our farmers need to know the various value chain involved in cassava production to enhance the quality of their products hence cassava alone can feed the whole country, if properly processed,” Zaki said.
The programme manager advised farmers to work with cooperative groups to enable them get soft loans and timely information on what to do, when to do it through their leaders, adding that the major role of BNARDA is to link farmers directly with companies producing quality agro- inputs.
Participants applauded the federal government for coming to the aid of farmers especially cassava farmers who are always operating at a loss because of lack of knowledge.