By JIMOH BABATUNDE

Don’t tell me it is not possible, if you don’t include 10% of cassava flour in your wheat flour, wait and see what we will do.”

That was President Olusegun Obasanjo in a chat with one of the millers when his government was pushing for Cassava flour inclusion in Bread.

The millers had always argued that it was not possible to have 10% inclusion of cassava in flour, but Obasanjo who was promoting the cultivation of cassava vigourously was convinced it was possible.

So, no wonder when he left government the policy of cassava inclusion in wheat flour failed as there was no law in the country to back that pronouncement.

Many investors that went into Cassava production business got their fingers burnt as the ideal of High Quality Cassava Flour inclusion in wheat was jettisoned as soon as his tenure ended

Effort of the present administration to have a law backing the inclusion of Cassava flour in Wheat flour suffered a setback in the House of Representatives two years ago as the members unanimously voted No to an executive bill on the excuse that compelling manufacturers of flour to include cassava would amount to compelling Nigerians to eat products that may be injurious to their health.

But stakeholders in the agriculture explained that the issue of Cassava inclusion in wheat flour is beyond what the National Assembly thinks as the bill when passed was capable of job creation, wealth creation, poverty reduction and local content utilisation as  Nigeria today is the highest producer of cassava in the world.

This informed why they gathered last week in Abuja to take a look at a draft bill seeking to make it mandatory for the inclusion of 20% cassava in the production of all flour products in Nigeria.

From farmers to processors; millers to bakers, all gathered to deliberate on the Bill titled “A Bill for an Act to provide for the Mandatory 20 per cent Inclusion of High Quality Cassava Flour or Sorghum to Wheat Flour and Its Derivatives and the Establishment of a Special Tax Regime for the Mixed Flour”.

Addressing the stakeholders, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture, Mrs. Ibukun Odusote, said the meeting was conveyed to discuss the draft Cassava Bread Bill which will eventually be passed to the National Assembly for passage into law.

Odusote disclosed that Nigeria produces over 40 million metric ton per annum of cassava as about 60% of Nigerian farmers are involved in cassava production because it is one of the food security crops.

“Unlike cassava, Nigeria is the highest importer of wheat in the world with a whooping sum of N635 billion spent annually.”

She argued that the quality of wheat imported into the country for Nigerians consumption is also questionable, adding that inclusion of   40% cassava flour in wheat for bread  is not only safe for consumption, “but also improves the nutritional quality of bread by reducing the glycemic index, the factor responsible for diabetes.”

Mrs. Odusote’s claim supports that of the Minister of Agriculture, Dr.  Akinwumi Adesina, who said that the information that cassava consumption was bad for patients suffering from diabetes, is one of the misguided information being passed around so as to truncate the government policy of including cassava in wheat flour.