FG to establish 200 cassava mills

The Minister of Commerce and Industry, Chief Achike Udenwa, said  in Abuja that the Federal Government had concluded plans to establish 200 cassava processing mills in 22 states. He spoke at a one-day national stakeholders meeting organised by the Nigerian Institute of Food Science and Technology (NIFST) on government’s cassava policy and its implementation.

Udenwa, represented by Ms Omololu Opeewe, an Assistant Director (Commodities) in the ministry, said the  initiative was in line with government’s 7-Point Agenda, geared toward addressing  issues of food security and unemployment. He said the project would be executed under Public-Private-Partnership arrangement. Udenwa said the ministry was collaborating with the National Root Crops Research Institute (NRCRI), Umudike in Abia and the International Centre for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), Columbia, U.S., to improve the nutritional value of cassava.