1.0 INTRODUCTION
1.1
BACKGROUND
Despite the dominant
role of the petroleum sector as the major foreign exchange earner, agriculture
remains the mainstay of Nigeria’s economy (Oyejide 1986). In addition to contribution to GDP, it is the
largest non-oil export earner, the largest employer of labour, and a key
contributor to wealth creation and poverty alleviation, as a large percentage
of the population derives its income from agriculture and related activities
(NEEDS, 2004). All over the world, the concept of evolving strategies for
ensuring natural food security and sustainable livelihood especially for the
developing countries has gained full prominence. In view of this, processing
cassava into its derivatives for food and income has been the practice of many
Nigerians in the rural areas. The current drive towards higher levels of
commercialization of cassava processing under the presidential initiative on
cassava requires that the scale of cassava processing be increased in Nigeria
(Ekwe and Ekwe, 2005).
Cassava is one of the staple food
crops grown in Nigeria. Nigeria grows 34,000 tonnes of cassava every year,
which constitute the largest output of the crop from any country in the world
(Adebayo and Sangosina, 2005). In 1982, Nigeria ranked number six in the world
production of cassava with an output of 6.8 million tonnes per annum. Through
the cassava multiplication programme (CMP) (1986-1996), Nigeria’s production of
cassava increased from 41million tonnes in 2005 to 49million tonnes in 2008
(FAO, 2008).
Today the crop is
grown in virtually all parts of the country and is now the focal food crop for
foreign exchange earning (Isiorhaorja and Idoge, 2005). In Nigeria, cassava is
consumed daily and sometimes more than once a day (Nweke, 2004) and it contributes
more than 1000 calories per person per day to the diet of
many families.
Cassava is consumed with a sauce made with ingredients rich in protein,
vitamins and minerals. Some even eat cassava for breakfast, lunch and dinner
(Haggblade and Zulu, 2003). In Nigeria, cassava is very important in the
economy and nutrition of poor rural household (NRCRI, 1996). Cassava has other
advantages such as ability to store well in the soil for several months as
being tolerant to extreme conditions. This is why cassava has been called the
“famine security crop” (Philip, 2005). Cassava is of two types; the bitter and
the sweet cassava, and they contain cyanogenic glucosides, which break down
into hydro-cyanic acid after it has been harvested. The acid makes raw cassava
very poisonous for animal and human consumption. Processing of cassava is
therefore important as means of removing this poison, increasing its palatability
and the storage life.
Cassava processing is a household
business as children help in peeling while the women are mostly engaged in the
processing, which is done to stop physiological and microbial spoilage, reduce
the cyanogenic glucosides content (Asiedu, 1989) and convert the roots to other
products which are more acceptable.
However, several constraints affect cassava processing which limit the
contribution of the crop to the nation’s economy (Hawn, 1989; Henry, 1999 in
Adebayo and Sangosina, 2005). For instance, the cynide content in cassava is a
major limiting factor to its utilization, but can be reduced by appropriate
processing innovations, (Oyewole and Aibor, 1992). Lack of fund and inadequate
storage facilities also affect its processing.
Products derived from
cassava include gari, starch, tapioca, fufu, pellets, flour and chip. International
Institutes for Topical Agriculture (2004) survey of cassava utilization found
that 70%, 15%, 10%, 5% of farmers respectively make gari, starch, fufu and
tapioca from cassava.
Gari is cream white granular flour
with slightly fermented and slightly sour taste made from fermented,
gelatinized fried cassava tubers. The processing of cassava into gari involves
certain units of operation. Fresh tubers are peeled, washed and grated. The
grated pulp is put in porous sacks, which are weighed down with heavy stones
for 3-4 days to expel the water from the pulp while it is fermenting. In some
areas, hydraulic jacks are used to expel the water from grated cassava. The
dewatered and fermented pulps are sieved and the resulting fine pulp is toasted
in a frying pan. Palm oil is sometimes added during toasting with constant
stirring so as to present all granules to the heat, to prevent the pulp from
lumping and burning. This has an additional effect of changing the color of the
product from white to yellow (Alinor, 2002).
Fufu is another form of cassava
derivatives. It is a fermented wet-paste made from cassava. It is an indigenous
food of most Nigerians in the south. Fufu is processed from cassava by steeping
whole or cut peeled cassava roots in water for a maximum of three to five days
depending on the ambient temperature. During steeping, fermentation decreases
the PH, softens the tuber and helps to reduce potential cynogenic compounds.
When sufficiently soft, the roots are broken by hands and sieved to remove the
fibers.
Cassava chips are another product
of cassava. It is widely used in Nigeria especially in Enugu state. Fresh roots
are peeled, washed, boiled in water and sliced into thin longitudinal slices
(chips) with knife or cutter. The chips are then poured into a local basket and
steeped in water for 1-2 days during which the water is changed once or twice.
The chips can be consumed at this stage. Starch is another product of cassava.
Cassava roots are peeled, washed and grated. The grated pulp is steeped for 2-3
days in a large quantity of water, stirred and filtered through a piece of
cloth. The starch sediments are air-dried under shade. It is used for textiles
and in plywood industries as adhesives (NRCRI, 1986). Pellet is obtained from
dried and broken roots of cassava by grinding and hardening into a cylindrical
shape. The cylinders are about 2-3cm long and about 0.4-0.8cm diameter and are
uniform in appearance and texture; they are produced by feeding dried chips
into the pelleting machine, after which the diameter are screened and bagged.
During the processing of cassava flour, the residual pulp, which is separated
from the starch in the screening process, is used as animal feed. The market
for cassava can be divided into two categories namely the traditional food
oriented market and the emerging market for industrial processed cassava
products. The vast majority of cassava grown in Nigeria is processed and sold
through traditional marketing channels, which are fairly well known.
Cassava is one of the major sources
of energy in Nigeria. That is why it was chosen as one of the focal crops for
improvement and development under the nation-wide Agricultural Development Programme
(Isiorharoja and Idoge 2005). This, perhaps led to the pronouncement of a
presidential initiative on the crop. In 2000, the President of Nigeria, Chief
Olusegun Obasanjo announced the initiative to promote cassava as a foreign
exchange earner in Nigeria in addition to satisfying the national demand. This
is in line with the government policy to give agriculture the highest priority,
to reduce poverty in the rural areas and to facilitate economic growth. The
challenge of the initiative is to make Nigeria earn 5billion US dollars per
year in value added cassava exports within three years, from year 2003 – 2006,
(IITA, 2001). The diversification and expansion into new growth markets like
ethanol, starch, livestock feed and household flour as substitutes for various
imported items present real opportunities for income generation of the rural
populace.
The initiative also seeks to develop and
satisfy the huge untapped domestic market for cassava as raw materials in the
industrial sectors as well as building capacity for export market (RMRDC,
2004).
The objective of the
presidential initiative on cassava is to expand primary processing and
utilization to absorb the national cassava production, identify and develop new
market opportunities for import substitution and export, stimulate increased
private sector investment in the establishment of export oriented cassava
industries, ensure the availability of clean planting materials targeted at the
emerging industries, increase the yield/productivity and expand annual
production to achieve global cassava competitiveness for the development of the
Nigerian cassava sector and integrate the rural poor especially the women and
youth into the mainstream of the
national economy (IITA, 2001).The programmes or the initiatives are implemented
through subcommittees drawn from the public and private sectors (Obasanjo,
2003). The ministry of commerce facilitated a trial export of 1000 tons of cassava
chips to China in 2003.
However, to meet the volume of demand
from China and perhaps other countries, the government through the ministry of
commerce will have to invest extensively in bulking/storage warehouses. The
Federal Government has to facilitate the revival of the railway cargo transport
nation wide, in order to guarantee the availability of cargo volumes for export
of the cassava products. This is critical for Nigeria to meet the target of the
initiative, however government intervention and efforts of non-governmental
organizations in the cassava sub sector had led to a number of measures that
support the production of cassava and this date backs to 1986 (Bello, 2003).
The current drive towards higher levels
of commercialization of cassava processing under the presidential initiative on
cassava requires that the scale of cassava processing be increased and the
profitability of the different derivatives tracked. This study will concentrate
on three derivatives namely, cassava chips, flour and gari, because the
presidential initiatives concentrates on them and they are the common
derivatives on the study area. Since
processing of cassava is an income generating enterprise in Uzo-uwani, the
profitability of the derivatives will be examined.
1.2
PROBLEM STATEMENT
Food security has
continued to be a problem in many developing countries. It has been indicated
that more than one billion people in the developing countries including Nigeria
live below the poverty line and do not have enough food to meet energy and
protein requirement for healthy and productive life (FAO, 1996)
Cassava is one of the major sources
of energy and the multiplicity of its use makes it indispensable for food
security (Asiedu, 1989). Cassava per capita consumption is of very high and
provides 80 percent of the total energy intake of many Nigerian’s (FAO, 2002).
Its importance forms the premise of the presidential initiative on crop, which
is one of the major reforms in Nigeria’s economy from 1999. It is expected that
returns from the exports of cassava derivatives especially chips will facilitate
the realization of National Economic Empowerment and
Development
Strategies (NEEDS) targets of $5 billion a year from agricultural exports.
However, several constraints affect
cassava processing which limit the contribution that the crop makes to the
nation’s economy (Henry, S.K, A. Westby and C. Collinson, 1999). The
constraints include the following, lack of fund, inadequate processing and
storage facilities and inefficiency in input supply and distribution, high cost
of frying pans, inadequate know- how on processing and storage to enhance shelf
life, high transaction cost, market uncertainty, inability of the processors to
keep adequate records of production cost as well as the tedious operation
technology (Bello, 2003).
It is documented that increasing
hectarage, fallow length and use of organic and inorganic fertilizer increases
cassava output (Isiohoraja and Idoge, (2005); Osugri 1996; Arene and Mkpado
(2004). Very few works, example: Ekwe and Ekwe (2005), Alinor (2002), Oyewole
and Sanni (1995) and Ayinde, I.A, O.F. Ashaolu, S.A. Adewuyi and M.U.
Agbonlaho, (2005) examined processing and marketing of cassava products. The
study by Ekwe and Ekwe (2005) concentrated on processing of cassava into gari
and its marketing. There was no report on the marketing channel which should
have given insight into the development of the processing enterprises and
marketing margins associated with each channel.
Similarly the study by Alinor (2002) determined the profitability of
processing cassava into gari and fufu in Nsukka and did not consider order
derivatives like chips, and flour. Presently, the presidential initiatives on
cassava concentrates mainly on export of cassava flour and its use in baking
industry, production of starch and cassava chips as well as export of gari. The
need therefore, is to document the present experiences of farmers in processing
and marketing of cassava derivatives. With respect to rural economy, where most
of the cassava productions take place and on which the Federal Government will
rely to succeed in this reform initiatives, the questions are: which cassava
derivative gives the highest revenue to farmers and what marketing channel
should farmers adopt? This is because improving processing and marketing efficiency
of cassava products will reduce food insecurity, poverty and enhance the
success of the reform initiatives on cassava.