By Chinyere Anyanwu
Rising production costs, persistent post-harvest losses, and growing import pressure are squeezing cassava farmers’ earnings across the country. What was once a reliable source of income is fast becoming less profitable as inputs get more expensive and wastage eats into yields.
Farmers say the combination of these challenges is undermining returns, leaving many struggling to break even despite strong demand for cassava and its derivatives in local markets
For context, the cassava value chain, like many other agricultural commodities, has had its fair share of challenges, especially since the temporary suspension of import duties and taxes on imported agricultural produce into the country.
In this chat with Daily Sun, the National President of Nigeria Cassava Growers Association (NCGA), Dr Mustapha Bakano, x-rays these challenges, among other issues confronting cassava farmers across the country.
Current state of the cassava value chain in the country
What is happening to the cassava value chain at the moment is really a bit appalling although there are some efforts that are actually coming up from the government to fix things, but it’s not really sufficient; it’s not enough.
In Nigeria, it has been assessed that everywhere in the country you can farm cassava, but it is a pity that some of the kind of intervention we’re seeing is very minimal, from both the state and federal levels. So, it is actually a problem, but as it is, market values have dropped drastically because of the imports that have been done over time.
The administration has not done any major programme on any of the commodities in the country at the moment, none that I know of anyway. There is no really serious intervention in the areas of government programmes to be able to enhance production or productivity of any kind of commodity. So, I think not only cassava, which has taken a major hit, but almost all the commodities in the country are suffering because of the imports in the last couple of months and years.
Impact of the temporary suspension of import duties and taxes on cassava value chain
When there is an import for a certain period and in this situation, this is going to be three years by June, and in these three years, we have not done any programme to boost our local production, like I mentioned earlier; we have focused on imports to see how they can bring the cost of food prices down. And that has not really helped the sector because when we are importing, we are already diminishing the capacity and ability of those who are actually farming and producing locally. So, what is happening now is that, even if the government has decided to reduce the prices of food, for the improvement to come, it’s going to be very gradual.
Because imagine now, you give farmers inputs and then send them into the fields to start working and then see how they can be able to bring down prices of food products. I mean, the cost of production is already higher than even the imports. So, it is really serious.
The government has to come in with some measures to cushion the effects, particularly on the issue of inputs, harvest size and the rest of them because you cannot produce what you cannot be able to sell. Because if the cost of production is high, you bring the value up. For example, now, per tonne of cassava is around N30,000, N40,000, the raw cassava. And then the cost of production per hectare of this cassava will be almost N1.5 million as it is now. So, if you do that, what is the number of tonnage you are expecting per hectare? Maybe, let’s assume, plus or minus, you’re having, say, 25 tonnes or 30 tonnes. You’re not getting up to the amount that you’re supposed to get, which is about 600 to 1,000 tonnes.
There’s a huge loss. So, the gap has to be bridged by way of interventions and these interventions are what the government needs to be doing.
There’s no country in the world that is not doing intervention in agriculture. Every country is subsidising certain items to ensure that farmers are not suffering, and that the stability of food production is in place.
Recovering from market collapse
Honestly, it has been very slow. Like I said earlier, the way this subsector’s recovery from the market collapse it has suffered can be really active or fast is by way of government interventions. The government must find a way to intervene, particularly in the issue of herbicide, insecticide, fertiliser and other inputs.
All these things are costly and they’re the things increasing the cost of production. And now, we’re coming to the new reality, which is the increase of the cost of fuel. We didn’t envisage that the price of fuel will get to this level now. I told you earlier and the cost of production per hectare is N1.5 million. You start wondering what will happen now, because today, I can see fuel is about N1,400 per litre. So, if I’m going to do tractorisation on my farm now, if it was costing me N300,000 per hectare, it’s now going to cost me almost N500,000. So, the cost of production has now increased drastically.
The government must come up with certain policies to say, okay, farmers, if you’re going to farm within the farm area, this is your own kind of incentive that we have provided. And then, we should be able to access those incentives as quickly as possible. If we stay too long in this situation, the country will not be comfortable anymore, because you’ll be importing every item. And then, the capital flight will be something else.
Cassava’s place in the country’s food security chain
Cassava has been playing a long-term role in food security in this country. Now, in almost every part of this country, everybody is making garri. In fact, I grew up to see in my own area where we’re eating this cassava as a local delicacy. For example, in Jigawa, in Kano, you see people eating boiled cassava with groundnut or kulikuli. We grew up seeing that happen.
So, cassava has been a consistent old staple food in the system and it plays a major role as a staple food. Globally, HQCF, that is high quality cassava flour, is required for various uses. So, in terms of stabilising not just food security in the country, we can export if we’re able to produce more. There’s an export demand for it. This garri we’re talking about, there’s an export demand for it. In Senegal, they’re looking for garri. In Sudan, they’re looking for garri. Somewhere in Europe, in Brussels, Belgium, I bought one share of garri for about four euros.
So, if you look at how this product is in high demand globally, you will understand that we are really underutilising our opportunity in the cassava value chain.
Cassava is now used as an industrial product, so, industries are deriving ethanol from it, they are deriving starch from it, and deriving sorbitol from it. So, these major components have already made it to be in high demand, but most people now are focused on importing the starch rather than allowing us, who are producing cassava locally to produce.
So, that is what is actually bringing so much disparity, because they’ve been importing starch into this country in the last couple of years. Assuming they haven’t been importing starch, farmers in the country would have been selling their cassava at a rate that can meet up with the competitive market demand.
Curtailing post-harvest losses
Though we are producing cassava massively in some states of the country like in the southwest, the middle belt, southeast, Kogi, Nassarawa, the major challenge is how to curtail post-harvest losses. Cassava is not like any other kind of crop that can stay long after harvest. It doesn’t have a long shelf life. If you produce cassava now, within 72 hours, it has started fermenting.
So, if there would be an avenue to access proper storage facilities, it would go a long way in boosting the subsector’s impact on food security.
We had a conference last year to address the issue of post-harvest losses, because 65 per cent of our production in cassava is going to waste. So, this year, we are now discussing with sustainable agriculture industries in Europe and different kinds of other companies, because they are looking for waste, so that we can go into business with them to engage us in taking the waste. But if they take the waste, why don’t we work on how we can create stability in the food system? So, we have to find a way to manage our waste and manage our industrial demand.
Challenges facing the value chain
Like I mentioned earlier, one of the major challenges confronting cassava farmers is post-harvest loss. We need storage facilities that can help us to have improved shelf life for our cassava, until we are able to process them. Another challenge is siting of production facilities close to the farms to curtail post-harvest losses, so that by the time I produce, I know that within a certain kilometre, I can be able to take my produce to the market, or I can have an aggregator, who will take it from me. Then I know the cost of that system has been taken off me as a farmer and has gone to the processor. The processor can now go and process it, and he knows how to do that within a certain time.
Issuance of herbicides and pesticides at a very subsidised rate is where the government should come in more.
Then, of course, there is the issue of tractorisation; people want new tractors to do farming. The government has bought tractors but up to now that I’m talking to you, the government has not shared those tractors. They have given them a certain cost that is abysmal for farmers to afford.
These tractors have been launched by Mr. President for more than two years, or a year plus, yet, there isn’t any scheme in place for the proper distribution of the tractors. No one has said to farmers, “you have to pay a certain amount to take the tractors.”
To help farmers on the tractor issue, the Bank of Agriculture can also come up with a strategy where, while they are giving you a soft loan to bring out your production, they can ask for a certain number of hectares, and say, “we are giving you five tractors, and we are going to be removing this from your cost of harvest.”
And they can also come up with an aggregation plan, so that the people will tell you as a farmer, “you finish your own, we have an aggregator who will take it from you, so that you will minimise your cost of transportation.” It’s a plan and strategy for proper food security. You have to work out a proper framework that can be adopted.
Another thing that is very important to attaining food security is that Nigeria, whether we like it or not, must adopt a proper public-private partnership agricultural framework. If you don’t have a proper agricultural international framework, international investors cannot come and invest in our agricultural sector. You have to have a meeting with people like the ICRC, the Infrastructure Concessionary Regulation Commission of the country, to see how we can engage international private sector-driven companies that can provide us with silos so that when you produce, you can have silos to preserve your crop. And those silos can be paid for based on the storage of the items that you’re doing.
So you create a framework where you can manage those systems, so that they can be able to help you and help the system. Without a framework, nobody will understand the profitability or the viability of what you’re trying to bring.
Deficient government intervention
The government needs to intervene, but they’ve not been doing much. To be frank, the support we’re getting is grossly inadequate. For example, if you have, say, about 17 to 20 active states that are producing cassava, and the government is telling you it’s only intervening in three or four states, it doesn’t make sense.
In fact, you keep wondering why the government is only active in those states? It gives you different notions about why the government is doing those kinds of things.
Impact of insecurity on cassava value chain
Insecurity has always been a challenge in the agriculture sector. The farmer-header clash has always been a challenge. But you see, like I keep saying, there must be a sincere purpose before you can be able to address this issue. Most of those herders don’t have grazing areas. So, a farmer, you’re having your farm next to where they keep their animals, and these people must naturally find food for animals. There are going to be clashes. So, there has to be a strategic plan by the government to create proper reserves.
I’m glad to hear that the Ministry of Livestock has now started creating a framework on how they can be able to create grazing reserves for these animals, so that in the long run, they will not be going to the farms. Secondly, insecurity perpetrated by terrorists and bandits has also caused a lot of losses. For example, during one of our last programmes, we had a challenge where insurance companies could not compensate farmers for the losses they incurred from activities of bandits up to this moment. I’m talking to you, and the government and the people have lost billions of naira. So, insecurity is still a challenge. But I also think it’s high time the government adopted highly sophisticated, integrated data management systems and technology to really tackle insecurity in this country.
It’s no longer a force to force fight. It’s an advanced technology system where you need to have drones on the farms because the inability to farm and lack of production is killing the economy.
So, if today we are not farming or we’re not producing anything, the country will collapse because there are more than 250 million people in this country who need to be fed.
It’s going to be very difficult for the country to survive in the next couple of years if insecurity is not tackled decisively.
Private sector partnerships
We have been having different partnerships. For instance, the International Fund for Agricultural Development, which is a funded programme under the CDP value chain development. Also, it’s a partnership with the government.
They have been having partnerships in the development of cassava in about seven states in the country. They are already doing some of the programmes across Niger, Nassarawa and Kogi states in the north and in Ogun and Osun and Ondo states. They also include Jigawa.
But the programme is ending this year. They’ve already started it in the last four years.
We have pipeline discussions with ECOWAS, some local regional development bodies. We are going to do some presentations and let them see what we are doing. We have also sent some proposals across West African states to see how we can enhance production of both cassava and across Africa generally. We had that discussion in the last African Cassava Conference, and we have extended our friendship because we are the highest producers globally. Yes, Nigeria is the highest producer but it’s the lowest earner among the major producing countries.
Imagine countries like Brazil and Thailand getting nothing less than $23 billion from their cassava production.
And then they are doing different value chains. In Brazil, you eat couscous of cassava, and then the flour has different varieties.
They have one of the biggest starch markets, and then they have the starch content differently for an application in different methodologies that you want to apply.
If you are able to have this happen here- value chain management, expansion of the cassava value chain, certainly, this country can rely only on cassava. Nigeria can survive only on cassava because the ethanol that we are looking for now, globally, will produce sustainable additional fuel.
What are they going to do? They’re going to extract ethanol from cassava, mix it with fuel, and blend it well. It will reduce carbon emission. We will now have a healthy environment.
There’s even ethanol for consumption, which is used by pharmaceuticals, so our pharmaceutical companies will have that production from here instead of import, so we’re still saving the country money that is going out for import.
Innovation to help cassava farmers
For us, what matters is to see that we have created a proper integrated system for our farmers, where our farmers can have a live view of the farms, for example, where we put them into a live stream, so that we can use our own platform as Cassava Growers Association to showcase all of them. We have created a website where we have listed all our farmers, and then we’ll put in your indices and the size of your farm and what you’re producing.
The essence is that you’re able to attract buyers for what you are producing. We can have a bulk pool for our farmers, so that when you produce, you can say, in XYZ location, somebody has produced two, three, four, five, 10 hectares. So, please, if you are the buyer there, you can easily go to this place.
We create the linkages so that you make the payments, you go and pick the goods from our farmer, and then the farmer is where he is comfortably and then gets his credit, and that’s from his farm. We are creating that intermediary framework using the information technology system that is available at the moment, to see how we can continue to help our farmers, so that we can curtail their post-harvest losses, and then help them in terms of cost. And then reducing stress too and the thought of “who’s going to buy this product if I finish harvesting.”
Most of the states’ chapters have registered their farmers on the website. Most of the state chapters are coming up. So, what we need to do is sensitisation. And that sensitisation is going to be on how to use the website. You need to have some skills and basic knowledge of operating the website. You know most of our farmers are in the rural areas, so, you need to upscale their knowledge of how they can access this website.
So, we need to make the website very friendly so that you don’t need to suffer going to places before you can get the information you’re looking for.
Way forward for cassava subsector
Moving forward, we need a strategic framework for public-private partnerships to thrive. It’s very important. And when this public-private partnership thrives, it will attract foreign investment.
We should focus on establishing a framework that can attract foreign direct investment so that investment into industrial and value chain systems can come in. Because if you don’t itemise the framework and include certain indices that are viable for people to see, we will not attract that investment we are looking for. So, the framework has to be done.
Secondly, the government must come up with incentives to manage the cost of items. The cost of production for farmers is crazy. Nobody can use this same amount of money now to produce and those products are imported, it cannot work. It is not sustainable..
So, going forward, the government can get these items in place. This is a framework for PPPs that will attract foreign direct investment. Secondly, the government should be able to also look at this angle of subsidising the cost of inputs for farmers, subsidising the items of food, fertiliser systems for farmers, and then create proper storage systems that can reduce post-harvest losses for farmers. So, these things will go a long way in creating sustainability along the line.
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