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