Nigeria’s flour millers have continued to shun the Federal Government’s cassava flour inclusion policy as the unavailability of high quality cassava flour (HQCF) and high cost of the raw material weigh on production.
Despite modest increases in processing facilities and drying operations of cassava by processors, Nigeria’s capacity to produce industrial-grade cassava flour remains limited. As such, the cost of cassava flour is considerably higher than imported wheat.
As a result, flour millers are compelled to buy cheaper wheat imports from Argentina, Ukraine, Russia and other parts of the world, BusinessDay checks show.
This has made Africa’s most populous nation a dumping ground for sub-standard wheat, with the resultant depletion of foreign reserves and rising unemployment.
“We have no record to the effect that any flour miller in the country is adding even 1 percent of HQCF to its production of flour currently,” Ayo Olubori, chairman, National Cassava Processors and Marketers Association (NCAPMA), said in a telephone interview.
“The millers are not buying from us and are not willing to off-take at the price we are offering to sell,” Olubori said.
Cassava requires less labour than all other staple crops. However, it requires considerable post-harvest labour because the roots are highly perishable and must be processed into a storable form soon after harvest, experts say.
This has made processing of cassava tubers into flour expensive, translating into high prices of the commodity.
Similarly, the Nigerian bakers association says that despite the fact that no flour miller in the country is currently adding HQCF to their flour, the government is still collecting N1,000 per 50kg bag for the development of the cassava bread initiative from millers.
“No flour miller in Nigeria is adding cassava flour into their flour as we speak. Yet, the government is still collecting N1,000 on every 50kg bag of flour sold in the country,” Jude Okafor, national publicity secretary, Association of Master Bakers and Caterers of Nigeria, said.
“The fund collected by the government is meant for development of the cassava bread initiative. What then is the government developing when the policy has been abandoned for more than four years now?” he asked.
Okafor said prices of flour would have been cheaper if the extra N1,000 paid on each 50kg bag was not included, adding consumers would have been paying less for bread than they are paying now.
He called on the Federal Government to terminate the payment and use the already-collected funds to support bakers and cassava flour processors across the country.
Consumers have also shown preference for wheat over cassava flour, as indicated in Nigerians’ inability to accept the latter even when it was pursued by the previous government.
“Consumers are also unwilling to change their consumption pattern, which is also increasing the demand for wheat-based foods but that would have changed now if we had not abandoned the policy,” said Okafor.
According to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Nigeria’s 2018/19 wheat imports are estimated to be 5.4 million metric tonnes, a 4 percent increase from 2017/18 estimates.
The report attributed the increase in wheat imports to millers’ growing access to foreign exchange and increased consumption.
Olalekan Saliu, secretary, Flour Milling Association of Nigeria, told BusinessDay that much of the cassava flour in the market is not of industrial standard but that flour millers are still buying up the industrial-grade cassava flours from big processors like Thai Farms.
“Most of the cassava flour produced by the small and medium sized processors is of low quality and does not meet industrial requirements, but we are still buying what is available from processors with industrial-grade cassava flour,” Saliu said.
Also, government’s inconsistency and inability to effect the use of cassava flour have also resulted in the loss of huge revenues that could have accrued from an active industry.
Nigeria’s local demand for HQCF is put at 504,000MT and supply is 60,480MT, according to data from the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN).
Josephine Okojie
