Nigeria to reduce wheat importation by 20%

The Federal Government will cut down wheat
importation by 20 per cent and save over N127
billion from its annual wheat import bill of over
N635 billion as from 2014, Agric mInister
Akinwumi Adesina has said.
Adesina disclosed this on Tuesday in Lokoja at a
two-day training workshop on cassava bread
organised for Master Bakers from the North
Central zone.
He said that government had concluded plans to
implement its policy of 20 per cent substitution of
wheat with cassava flour in bread production, to
reduce the bill.
The minister, represented by Mrs Toyin Adetunji,
his Technical Adviser on Cassava Value Chain,
said the policy was expected to save Nigeria over
N127 billion.
He said the Master Bakers' training was part of
measures aimed at developing cassava industry,
create jobs and boost the income of the people.
Adesina said the policy was also aimed at
diversifying the country's economic base from oil
to non-oil sectors.
According to him, with a production capacity of
40 million metric tonnes per annum, Nigeria is
the largest producer of cassava in the world, with
Brazil, Thailand and Indonesia trailing on.
"The challenge to us as a nation is that Thailand,
which is the third largest producer of cassava,
controls over 80 per cent of the world market of
cassava starch.
"Hence, there is need for us to play our role as a
leading producer nation."
The minister said that President Goodluck
Jonathan had approved N10 billion as cassava
bread development fund.
He said that the training, which currently had a
total of 770 master bakers across the six geo-
political zones, was expected to train a minimum
of six bakers from each local government area of
the country.
In their separate remarks, Mr Dare Arotiba, the
ministry's coordinator of Agriculture
Transformation Agenda (ATA) in Kogi, and Mr
Simeon Abanilo, Chairman, Master Bakers in the
state, commended the initiative of the
government.