By Godfrey Progress, Abuja
In an effort to lower fuel import prices and boost Nigeria’s bioeconomy, the Federal Government has announced plans to empower around 14 million smallholder farmers through the Cassava Bioethanol Value Chain Development Project.
Senator Abubakar Atiku Bagudu, the minister of budget and economic planning, made this revelation on Thursday in a statement that was signed by Mrs. Osagie Jacobs, the ministry’s director of information and public relations.
Bagudu gave a speech during a two-day stakeholder capacity-building workshop on the South-East zone project that took place in Enugu and ended on Wednesday. He clarified that the program’s goal is to incorporate farmers into industrial production by connecting agriculture to rural development, energy transformation, and domestic value addition.
Through the mixing of bioethanol with Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), the project could save Nigeria more than N3 trillion in foreign dollars annually, reducing reliance on imported gasoline, according to the minister, who was represented by Mr. Auwal Mohammed, the ministry’s Director of Economic Growth.
In addition to increasing employment, rural incomes, and local production capacity in the renewable energy market, he stated that the intervention would reposition cassava as a crucial industrial crop.
“From premium stems and starch to the CO2 captured during fermentation and the animal feed made from distillery grains, we are looking at the entire value chain,” he stated.
Bagudu went on to say that the project would be carried out through a Triple-Helix knowledge transfer partnership, emphasizing the provision of high-yield, disease-resistant cassava varieties, luring investment, extending technology and market access, and fortifying the infrastructure and enabling environment.
The purpose of the workshop, according to Mr. Olaifa Alade, Director of Agriculture, Economic Growth Department at the ministry, was to get stakeholders ready for the successful execution of the cassava bioethanol project.
In order to guarantee a smooth transition from the pilot phase to national-scale implementation, Alade reassured participants that the Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning will offer consistent policy support and a strong monitoring mechanism.
Representatives from state ministries of agriculture, budget and economic planning, farmers’ associations, the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, NACCIMA, universities, and research facilities attended the event.
