The Kogi State Government has said that measures were being taken to curtail the spread of poisonous cassava variety with high concentration of Hydrogen Cyanide in the state.
Kehinde Oloruntoba, commissioner for agriculture made the disclosure, when he visited a cassava farm on recently at Adavi Local Government area of the state.
“We got the report from the chairman of Adavi local council that poisonous cassava peels killed seven goats on the spot after consumption. The governor immediately directed an immediate assessment of the situation and take proactive steps to identify and destroy all the poisonous cassava in farmlands to curtail its spread,” said Oloruntoba.
“The test results carried out by the state’s Ministry of Health revealed that the flour contained a high concentration of hydrogen cyanide, not compatible with the body and that is why we are here to meet with cassava farmers; get information from them and subsequently agree on how to destroy the farmlands and compensate the farmers,” he added.
The commissioner stated that more samples would be taken from the area to do further test to ascertain the exact cause of the high cyanide concentration of cassava tubers in the area. “Whatever results we obtained will be made known to the public because it is possible that the poisonous variety might have travelled far to other areas and out of the state,” he said.
In his response, Ajoge Abu, chairman of the council, said that nine persons died last year due to consumption of poisonous cassava flour which was a sad incident that really affected the residents.
“As soon as we got the information about the dead animals from the community, we immediately moved into action and isolated all the cassava tubers and flour from the markets and households for further investigation.
“We are happy that the governor has taken a proactive step by sending a team of experts here to get the update and find a lasting solution to the reoccurring problem,” said Abu.
Also Adinoyi Etudaiye, principal research officer, National Root Crops Research Institute, Umudike, disclosed that the institute would start with the product that killed the goats.
“The issue of variety is actually very difficult to identify now, but we will contact cassava breeders who should have basic information on the appearance of the stem, leaves and colour of the cassava,” Etudaiye said.
Victoria Nnakiaike, Lokoja
