LATEST UPDATE:
Minister, stakeholders draft bill on 20% inclusion of cassava flour
BY STEVE AGBOTA
Minister of Agriculture, Dr. Akinwunmi Adesina, and agriculture stakeholders may soon forward a draft bill on the mandatory 20 per cent inclusion of High Quality Cassava Flour (HQCF) to the National Assembly for implementation.
The stakeholders who met with the Ministry of Agriculture in Abuja, said it was imperative the bill be presented before the National Assembly and passed into law, to compel master bakers to input 20 per cent cassava flour in wheat for bread and confectioneries to enhance employment opportunities among the youths entering into labour market every year.
The draft bill on its section two said that upon its commencement, it shall be mandatory for all bakers of edible flour to ensure the 20 per cent inclusion of the HQCF in wheat flour produced in the country or imported and it shall also be mandatory for wheat importers to pay an import tariff of 15 per cent.
The bill added: “The Minister shall cause a report on the implementation of this Act to be presented to the relevant committees of each House of the National Assembly before April 30 this year. A tax regime is herein established to provide incentives for the producers of mixed wheat and cassava flour.
“A maker of edible bread who contravenes the provisions of Section 2 of this Act commits an offence and is liable to a fine not less than N100,000.00 and suspension of operation for a period of five years upon conviction.”
Speaking on the bill, the Senior Technical Assistant to the Agric Minister, Dr. Martins Fregene, said government policy on cassava was to ensure local content in Nigerian food and to ensure that about 1.8 million Nigerians entering the labour market every year get jobs through the project. He added that government was targeting 300,000 tonnes of cassava flour by first quarter of 2015.
He said the 29 per cent cassava flour inclusion will not change and affect the quality of the bread and volumes, adding that government will increase the number of bakers to be trained in 2014 to 5000 across the country.
However, the Director General/CEO of the Federal Institute of Industrial Research (FIIRO) said that one of the strategies to sustain the inclusion is to legislate it into law and the inclusion into national policy.
She added: “Cassava has a relative advantage in this country. As one of the world’s largest producer of cassava, there is need for us to industrialise and commercialise the use of cassava to a level where it will be industrially managed.”
Meanwhile, the representative of National Cassava Processors and Marketers Association (NCAPMA), Pastor Femi Salami, said in previous years, cassava was only produced for local consumption but the new Agriculture Transformation Agenda (ATA) of the Federal Government has opened up the cassava space.
Thanks for Reading The LATEST UPDATE:
Minister, stakeholders draft bill on 20% inclusion of cassava flour
SHARE WITH FRIENDS
