African leaders promote bread baked with 40% cassava flour

The inclusion of cassava flour in bread has received continental attention with some African leaders demonstrating their support for the innovation in Tanzania.

Nigeria’s former President Olusegun Obasanjo and the President of Tanzania, Dr Mrisho Jakaya Kikwete, eat bread baked with 40 percent cassava flour, noting that it would bring several benefits to the continent.

Former Tanzanian President, Benjamin Mkapa also ate the bread for the first time.

President Kikwete, after inaugurating the IITA Science Building in Dar es Salaam, commended IITA for the bread technology, saying that the bread had an “excellent” taste. “There is no difference between this bread and the normal bread we are used to,” he added.

The 40 percent cassava bread was first developed by IITA in Nigeria, as part of efforts to boost the utilization of cassava and create market for farmers.

The Director General for International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Dr Nteranya Sanginga said that the bread innovation is part of the cassava value chain, stressing that it complements breeding efforts.

Mr. Obasanjo, who is also IITA Goodwill Ambassador, encouraged the Tanzania President to promote the use of cassava in confectionaries in his country to transform agriculture.

He noted that the use of cassava flour in bread would stimulate the demand for the root crop, create jobs and, more importantly, make farmers proud.

In 2002, President Obasanjo initiated a policy on 10 percent inclusion in bread under a program tagged “the Presidential Initiative on Cassava.”

The program which was implemented by IITA and national partners, drove the demand for cassava, increased productivity by about 10million tons in 6 years, and made Nigeria the top world producer of cassava.

The IITA Ambassador urged African governments seeking genuine agricultural transformation to adopt the use of cassava in confectionaries, and institute policies that would make the continent food secure and cut import bills on food.

To facilitate the adoption of the technology across countries in Africa, IITA deployed a team of experts to train local bakers on the inclusion of cassava flour in bread in Tanzania.

Dr Victor Manyong, IITA Director for Eastern Africa noted that the adoption of the technology would improve the livelihoods of farmers, bakers and have a positive impact on the economy of Tanzania.

Consumed by more than 600 million people in the developing world, cassava has transformed from a food security crop to a cash crop with industrial uses in sectors such as brewery, pharmaceutical and confectionary industries.

The crop is one of Africa’s major staples, with the continent cultivating about 50 percent of global production.

Story by Kofi Adu Domfeh