By Vincent Ujumadu

AWKA – STILL basking in  the euphoria of the successes recorded in commercial rice production, Anambra State, under the Fadama III additional financing, has concluded plans to go into value chain commercial production of cassava, in 2017. To ensure the success of the programme, some local government areas which have comparative advantage in cassava production have been selected for the project.

Among the local government areas are Anambra East, Anambra West, Orumba South, Awka North, Ihiala and Ogbaru. Already, officials of the World Bank, the federal ministry of agriculture, the state ministry of agriculture and other stakeholders have stepped in to encourage farmers to improve their yields.

Anambra State Commissioner for Agriculture, Mr. Afam Mbanefo addressing the stakeholders in Awka

Part of the programme would be to encourage farmers to form cooperatives to be able to receive soft loans from financial institutions. And apparently due to the envisaged high yield that might put the state among highest cassava -producing states in the country, the state government recently assembleddealers, Chester chairmen, micro finance banks, as well as rice and cassava off-takers to educate them on how best to maximize implementation arrangements of the project.

The stakeholders in Awka said that what had been achieved in commercial production of quality, stone free rice, would be replicated in quality production of various cassava products, so that cassava farmers could make more profits.

According to Mbanefo, Governor Willie Obiano was very much committed to taking all aspects of agricultural production in the state to enviable heights, advising that any farmer in the state who was not prepared to maximize and commercialize agriculture, should quit and go into other ventures.

To the Commissioner, the era of lukewarm farmers had gone and warned against any form of dishonesty towards the realization of the state’s agricultural revolution because the sector was a sure way of boosting the state’s economy.

The State Project Coordinator of FADAMA, Mr. Patrick Egbueh, explained that the forum was intended to bring both the project managers and the investors together to identify areas that were not working well and effect correction in line with the implementation arrangements of the project. He said that the good news was that all the cassava to be produced in the state already had ready markets as the buyers were standing by to pay for every produce in any part of the state.

The stakeholders, on their part, assured that they were ready to collaborate with the farmers in terms of credit facilities, provided the farmers met their conditions. Luckily, the conditions to be met by the farmers were not stringent as the interest rate offered by the financial institutions were low.

A representative of Nigeria Starch Mills, Ihiala, Mr. Anthony Umerah, said the company was ready to buy off any quantity of cassava tubers produced in Anambra State. “We are happy to be part of the agricultural revolution taking place in Anambra State,” he said.