In the beginning the noise was on high decibel that cassava bread will soon flood Nigerian markets. Today the hope has waned drastically as the dawn of reality has proved that it is more of illusion than reality despite billions of naira down the drain writes Sina Fadare.
Perhaps, if the former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo looks back at what has become of his former pet project, the cassava bread and inclusion of 40 percent of cassava flour into daily production of all confectioneries in the country, he will properly chuckle in his characteristic manner and shake his head in pity for his beloved country.
The former president expressed his disappointment at how his successors made a mess of his pet project in his book, My Watch. Today despite the huge investment on the project, it is still in the limbo and the hope of having 40 per cent cassava flour for bread bakers remain an illusion. Former President Obasanjo during his tenure initiated the idea of cassava bread in order to promote the cassava value -chain by not only creating demands for its consumables, but also provide job opportunities for thousands of Nigerian youths who are roaming about on the streets.
Abbreviated dream
Obasanjo approved and pursued the policy of 10 per cent cassava flour inclusion in bread baking and challenged flour mills and bread bakers in the country to cue into this laudable idea. However, the effort could not yield the desirable result before his exit.
Seeing the potentials inherent in massive production of cassava, the former Minister of Agriculture, Dr Akinwumi Adesina took a bold step by canvassing for a 40 per cent cassava flour inputs. Though Adesina had a tall dream, he insisted that if the dream could be actualised, the country will be able to save about 30 per cent of money spent on the importation of wheat, running into N200 billion.
Part of the government plan was to impose a levy of 15 % on wheat grain imports, which will increase the effective duty from five to 20 %. The gain from the levy would be used to establish the Cassava Bread Development Fund under the Cassava Bread Wealth Development Fund.
This led the Federal Government to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Bank of Industry (BOI) to manage the N4.3 billion cassava bread fund that would support small and medium enterprises (SMEs), master bakers and large industrial cassava flour mills.
The BOI and Bank of Agriculture (BOA) are to manage disbursement of the N9.9billion cassava bread fund released by President Goodluck Jonathan, according to Adesina.
Out of this amount, N4.3 billion will be disbursed by the BOI to support SMEs who are involved in cassava processing, while the BOA is to manage N3.4 billion of the fund in collaboration with 13 key private stakeholders, he said.
The Minister insisted that the fund will be 50 per cent grant, 50 per cent loan, adding that “it is a huge step forward in terms of supporting our farmers to produce more cassava.”
The initial hiccups
Investigation by The Nation revealed that the project almost crumbled with the same velocity it started due to poor consultation by the Obasanjo regime with all the stakeholders who are to be the pilot of the project. For instance, most of them read the policy on the pages of the newspapers without knowing what it contains and the sacrifice to be made.
Though Obasanjo insisted that the private sector should be the nucleus of the project, unfortunately the concerned ministries (Agric, Industry and Commerce) failed to liaise with the relevant stakeholders particularly the flour mills who were supposed to play a vital role in the chain value.
More embarrassing was the pronouncement by Obasanjo that the government’s targeted 40 per cent inclusion of cassava flour in the daily operation of all cassava mills in the country without thinking where to get the available improved cassava variety that can be used as flour which in turn serve as raw materials for the flour mills. Unfortunately the hype in the media suggested as if cassava bread will soon be on the table of all and sundry.
Equally affected were the Master Bakers and Caterers Association of Nigerian who had to close shop immediately after government pronouncement, a situation that has thrown them into the waiting game of uncertainty.
Speaking on the effect of the new policy, the President of the Association, Simeon Abanulor said “20 per cent of master bakers have closed shops because of high cost of flour. Now, we buy a bag of wheat flour between N6000 and N7200, which is above what it used to be. Some with three lines (producing morning, afternoon and evening) have reduced their lines to two or one, while so many jobs have been lost because business has been so bad for us,” he said.
He added, “We thought we are being the patient dog but this seems to be making us hungry. The minister said the deadline for machine supplies is January 20, 2014. But this is not the first time they are giving us deadline. I have been asking a lot of questions. Some bakers are accusing me of being bribed. They say either drop that 15 per cent levy so that the flour millers can go back to the former price or make the wealth funds benefits available to us.”
Recounting their loss, Abanulor said the association is the second largest employer of labour, adding, “On the average, a bakery employs 15-70 staff. Any bakery that runs three lines must have not less than 20 staff.”
If the Master Bakers are lamenting, the cassava farmers who were expected to plant the needed cassava for the project were not only frustrated but at a cross road because majority of them cannot access any fund dedicated to cassava farmers. This reporter went to six states of the federation (Oyo, Ogun, Osun, Ondo, Lagos and Kwara) last year to feel their pulse; it was a tale of frustration and uncertainty.
A cassava farmer in Owode village in Ede North area of Osun State, Pa Ilori Akintade who has been a cassava farmer in the last 40 years regretted that despite all the chains of form given out to them to fill with the hope that money will come from the government; nothing was heard about it till today.
According to him, the formation of cooperative societies in order to hasten the facilitation of the loan was futile, “Some of us even went to the extent of opening bank accounts with our cooperative names but we still could not access any fund as I am talking to you till today.”
It was the same story of lamentation when The Nation spoke to some group of farmers in Igboho in Orelope local government area of Oke-Ogun in Oyo State. To Mr. Alani Adewuni who decided to venture into tobacco farming when there was no help from anywhere, none of the cassava farmers in the area has ever benefitted from the Federal Government grants or soft loans.
“Despite that this area is noted as the food basket of Oyo State, cassava farmers have not benefited anything from the government be it state or federal, all what we are hearing in the media everyday is that a huge amount of money has been allocated to either cassava farmers or cotton farmers, but we did not see it. That is why some of the youths decided to embrace the British America Tobacco (BAT) grants to plant tobacco, if they have any other choice, they could have exploited it, he lamented.”
Pa Jacob Olakitan shared Alani’s view saying that it takes extra energy and time to tender tobacco which he ventured into when he had no money to plant large scale cassava. “There is nobody who did not know me as a cassava farmer in this town, but today I only plant the little needed by my family since none of the government incentives to cassava farmers ever gets to us here.”
Perhaps this confirmed the fear of Dr (Mrs.) Oluwatoyin Oluwole of Federal Institute of Industrial Research (FIRRO), Oshodi who posited at a stakeholder meeting in Lagos in 2014 that “the project could be of immense benefit to the nation if the necessary loose-ends are tightened especially in the areas of ensuring closely monitoring, ensuring that the funds are not misappropriated, curbing smuggling, reduction of official bureaucracy that could bar the real beneficiaries – millers, small scale farmers, bakers and entrepreneurs – from accessing the funds and to make the desired impact, it is when this happens that I believe cassava bread can really add value to the economy.”
Another major crisis was the issue of who to partake in the largesse if all the chips are down. Against the backdrop of previous experience when such loans are seen as the national cake which can be taken without any solid channels to refund it, the affected government agencies, the Bank of Agric and Bank of Industry made use of the members of the affected associations (Master Bakers and Caterers Association of Nigeria and Cassava Growers Association of Nigeria) as beneficiaries with the association standing as their guarantor.
This on its own created a lot of acrimony among the members of the associations, majority of who thought they have been schemed out.
Reality on ground
Though Adesina’s ambition seemed to be a tall dream, but he audaciously want to cut the country’s annual spending of about N625b importing wheat by 30 per cent which at the long run would save close to N200 billion annually in foreign exchange, unfortunately this became an illusion
Contrary to the impression by the former minister that a whopping N9.9 billion was released by former President Jonathan, to both BOA and BOI to be shared to all the stakeholders on N4.5 billion each, in the value chain. The Nation found out that while a sum of N3 billion was released to the BOI, BOA got N2.4 billion to date.
The Nation equally gathered that contrary to the belief that 10 per cent cassava was being mixed with the wheat flour in order to produce a cassava bread for the country, only 2.5 per cent of the cassava flour is feasible for now, though it can increase to 10 per cent later.
The Chief Executive Officer of Honeywell Mills, Mr. Olarewaju Jaiyeola, said that the company is fully ready to integrate the 10 per cent high cassava yield flour in its production process in order to key in, into the federal government’s policy on cassava bread, but it would be a gradual process.
Jaiyeola who disclosed this after taken some journalists round the facilities provided by the company to accommodate cassava flour in Lagos said the policy has brought the ministry of agriculture closer to flour millers in the country in a collaborative effort that has yielded more economic benefits for the country at large especially in the area of employment generation.
According to him, the government for the first time was able to back up the policy with a holistic approach in terms of collaborative efforts with the private sector in the value laden chain that includes the cassava farmers, the processors, the flour millers and the master bakers who have been producing wonderful results.
The CEO noted that Honeywell Flour Mill has started with 2.5 per cent cassava flour inclusion in production with a view to increasing it to 10 per cent next year, adding that the gradual process is necessary in order to have a solid back up plan for greater performance in the not too distant a future.
He explained that series of meetings were held with the people at the ministry of agriculture and the facts and opportunities were laid on the table for all to see, adding that on this basis that it was agreed that the process will be gradual since it has a lot of cost implications.
“We went back to the drawing board to make sure that we incorporate cassava flour into our daily operation with additional machine into our fleets since it is all automated, therefore it costs the company close to a billion naira to make this realisable and based on this we were able to add 2.5 per cent of cassava flour to our operation. By this time next year, we ought to have moved to the 10 per cent cassava flour addition.
“The expectation of government is that flour mills should add about 10 per cent of cassava flour to our operation; this will be gradual because we are mindful of all other variances and the cost implications. It is expected that this inclusion will assist the farmers to produce more cassava with a readymade market and by and large it will create employment opportunities,” he explained.
Jaiyeola, who said that though there are some challenges especially in the area of sourcing for raw materials, however noted that by the time all the value chains are operational such a problem will become a thing of the past.
“As long as people are more convinced about the policy and could see the turnover for those people that ventured into it, more investors will come in and the multiplier effect will solve the problem of unemployment.”
He said the government also took a bold step by giving flour millers the opportunity to acquire some of the processing machines in their custody and that Honeywell benefited , with acquisition of about 500 hectares of land in the states where these machines were located.
According to him, this will go a long way to have a dependable cassava farm and monitor the quality of the cassava flours that are being used in our daily operation, “As of today a 50kg of cassava flour costs N8, 000 but by the time it was shuffled some of it are wasted and dumped into thrash bin.
“The quality of cassava flour we are receiving is getting better each day, as time goes on and there are many people who are involved in processing, the quality will be better and millers will be able to reject any one that is not up to the expected quality.”
Reacting to some of the window of opportunities said to have been provided by the Federal Government in terms of access to grants and loans from the BOI, Jayiyeola noted that this is another dimension that will go a long way to assist flour millers to achieve the inclusion of 10 per cent cassava flour in their daily operations.
“We believe in this policy and the overall back up strategy. If this consistency can be maintained and all other value chains key in, it is a matter of time before cassava bread will flood the market,” he said
Success story
It is extremely difficult to measure the level of success achieved so far about cassava bread if compared with the amount of money spent on the project. As of the last count, about N5.3 billion had been expended by both BOI and BOA.
Speaking to this reporter at the headquarters of the BOA, Kaduna, the Chief Executive Officer and CEO of the bank, Mr. Babatunde Sadiku said the bank was mobilized to the tune of N2.4 billion to cultivate cassava tubers in the country.
According to him, a total of 3,713 members of Cassava Growers Association (NGGA) benefited from the phase one of the project while about 3,699 others benefited from the second phase with a total of N2.3 billion dispensed all together.
Sadiku explained that all the beneficiaries are chosen from NCGA who forwarded the names and all their particulars to the bank throughout the country, adding that “before approving and eventually distributing the monies to respective beneficiaries, due diligence have been carried out by NCGA and BOA branches that are scattered all over the country.”
Speaking in the same vein, the Divisional Head, Large Enterprises, BOI, Mr. Joseph Babatunde noted that 193 beneficiaries have accessed the bank’s loan. According to him, 32 of this number are for high quality cassava while the rest 160 are master bakers across the country, adding that N2.2 billion has been disbursed so far.
Babatunde explained that the loan granted are managed by the branches of the bank all over the country, adding that the facility has rekindled the lost hope of making agriculture the hub of the nation’s economy at this critical period.
Going to the field to verify some of the claims made by these banks about some of these beneficiaries, The Nation stumbled on a fish farmer in Kaduna who was able to tell his success story about the facility granted by BOA.
Mr. Leo Akuwudiko, the Managing Director of King Star Farm in Kaduna told this reporter that he accessed N4.5 million from the bank for fish farming and was able to make a success of the project adding that without the intervention fund from BOA, it could have been difficult for him to raise such money.
A graduate of Agric -Economics, he explained that apart from occasional flood which washed away his fish farm, it was an enterprise that can gave succour to Nigerian graduates roaming the streets.
Speaking in the same vein, Mr. Joshua Ishola, popularly known in Kaduna as ‘Omo Jesu Nigeria Ltd’ is a fabricator who accessed N2.9 million from BOA to fabricate agricultural equipment in 2014.
According to him, he has been in the business in the last 20 years producing equipment such as cassava peeling machine, cassava fryers, dryers and maize huller machine, “Most of the people patronizing us are local farmers who most of the times are not buoyant enough to buy this equipment unless government comes to their aid.”
Ishola explained that the intervention role which the BOA is playing would encourage the younger ones to embrace agriculture but regretted that the interest rate was too high, “If the interest rate can come down to one digit figure, it will encourage a lot of people to take the risk and venture into agriculture, not that alone, at our end we would be able to employ more hands to assist us.”
Perhaps to make sure that farmers are monitored and can access funds anywhere they are in the country, even at the remotest village; BOA has introduced a Green Cash model.
Executive Director, Wholesale Finance, Alhaji Ahmadu Haruna Waziri, said the Green Cash will key into the cashless policy whereby any of the bank’s clients can transact businesses with minimal cash flow.
According to him, it is e-banking system whereby all the clients can do their business with the bank in a fast and secured way within a twinkle of an eye, “You can use your mobile phone to transact all your businesses. You can also use internet transaction in addition to other e-banking businesses. It is a platform for us to provide our client a viable service at the remotest village you can get mobile telephone. People who are dealing in little flow of cash can easily be reached.”
Waziri pointed out that “This Green Cash will allow them to access their fund in any part of the country even at the remotest village. We have sent marketers to the field to sensitise the people on the need to key into this concept. Now, we are at the process of recruiting agents that will serve as intermediary between the bank and the farmers. The agents will act as outlet to the services of the bank.”
The renowned agric-business expert said, the first recruitment of the agents will be between one and two per each of the 774 local governments and will be saddled with the responsibility of transacting business with the bank clients without going to ATM stands.
“The idea is that cash can be transferred to our customers through their phone numbers. The handling of the physical cash will be minimal. Outside the eco system, all other transactions can be done on the phone. The agent will be categorized into silver, bronze and gold the amount they are handling will determine their category.
Challenges
Perhaps the greatest challenge to cassava bread project was the poor enlightenment programme on the part of the federal government and the noise making about the project towards the end of Jonathan’s tenure as one of its success story whereas the project was at its teething level.
However, most of the farmers who are not members of NCGA felt that they were shortchanged because they were edged out of the scheme. Speaking to The Nation, a cassava farmer in Owiwi village in Abeokuta North Local government area of Ogun State, Alhaji Eniola Gabriel lamented that it is high time the Federal Government stopped using the farmers in the country to enrich some of their cronies under the disguise of incentives to farmers.
“It is almost a year now that the issue of grants to cassava farmers has been on, we were compelled to form cooperative societies based on what you are producing in order to have access to some of this grants, but nothing came out of this apart from the hype in the media, whereas the planting season is almost gone.”
Speaking in the same vein, a farmer in Ido-Osi local government area of Ekiti State, who has been a cassava farmer in the last 20 years, Pa Joseph Ayanniyi regretted that “whenever I hear that people are talking about grants to farmers, it makes me laugh because it was the same old story and the funny aspect of this grant is that we hear it in the media every time, yet the farmers did not get anything.”
Investigation by The Nation revealed that any farmer who did not register with the NCGA which has all their branches all over the country cannot be considered for BOA loans, a situation that does not go down well with majority of them.
Aside this, the poor attitude that any loan from government is a national cake, that should not be refunded. Babatunde of BOI noted that that is one of the challenges facing them on the field.
According to him, there should be attitudinal change on the part of the beneficiaries who should see it as a revolving loan which should be returned as at when due so that others could benefit.
The former Commissioner of Agriculture in Ekiti State, Mr. Babajide Arowosafe, regretted that most of this laudable agricultural policy from the federal government is killed by wrong approach at the point of execution.
Speaking in the same vein, his former colleague in Ogun State, Mrs. Ronke Sokefun, observed that state ministries are not always involved in federal government’s grants to farmers in the state because “they administer, if there is any at all directly.”
According to her, “the grants for cassava growers and master bakers is not popular in Ogun State, we are yet to see those that benefitted.”
If the Cassava Adding Value for Africa (CAVA), phase 1 that encompassed Nigeria, Tanzania Uganda and Malawi with a grant of $13.6million and managed by a Nigerian, Dr Kolawole Adebayo, could record minimal success, what happens to the one embarked upon by the federal government seems to be the question on the lips of every Nigerians.
The Director of Grants Management at the Federal University of Agriculture (FUNAB), Abeokuta and the Project Manager of the Cassava Adding Value for Africa, Dr. Adebayo while speaking in his office noted that poor execution is always the bane of grants disbursement coming from the federal government.
He argued that the major threat to cassava bread could be traced to the politicisation of government’s good policy. According to him, “Government’s policies work around political timelines and that’s a major issue, if we could get our policy to work outside political timelines, I think that will help us a lot so that once we start a policy for good or for bad, let it outlive a timeline before revision.”
With the situation on ground, it is obvious that cassava bread will take a long time to get to the table of Nigerians despite the hype and noise about its flooding the market as alternative to wheat bread.
To Babatunde, the development is gradual putting into consideration that it will take time before all the components could provide the desired result. “But the fundamental is that the project has revived hope and raised awareness that there will be a better tomorrow.”
Meanwhile, Nigerians are waiting to taste and eat the much fabled cassava bread.
