OGSG HARPS ON LARGE SCALE CASSAVA CULTIVATION

  OGSG HARPS ON LARGE SCALE CASSAVA CULTIVATION

The need for more farmers especially youths to venture into cassava cultivation has been emphasised, due to its numerous value-chain and increase in demand of the crop by processors.

The Permanent Secretary, Ogun State Ministry of Agriculture, Dr. Dotun Sorunke highlighted the importance of cassava production, while addressing OGIS

Correspondent in Abeokuta, described agriculture as a way of life, job creation, food production and industrialisation, which he said was easy for any caliber of individual to venture in, as a means of livelihood.

Sorunke pointed out that cassava is simple to cultivate all year round with available markets, noting that it could be grown in any part of the State and harvested within nine months.

"The easiest means of engagement for everybody is agriculture. It is a way of life and very important for job creation, food production and industrialisation. Government cannot provide jobs for everybody. Cassava is very important as a  source of food and income. It is useful in pharmaceutical industries, ethanol production, alternative sources of energy among others ", he pointed out.

He  advised cassava farmers to leverage on training and guidance of extension officers that would expose them to modern farming methods and good agronomic practices, thereby increasing their yields and market values.

Speaking in a similar vein, the Director of Extension Services, Ogun State Agricultural Development Programme (OGADEP), Mrs. Solape Awe, underscored the mission of the Programme, as a way of reaching out to farmers with new technology and innovations that had been worked on by research institutions.

She noted that many youths had been engaged in various profitable Agribusiness and cleared land in different locations, assuring government's continued support at all time.

Also speaking, the Director, Ogun State Cassava Revolution Programme, Mrs. Kehinde Jokotoye, said the Programme was flagged-off in 2005, to encourage investment in cassava production, revealing that it had engaged new innovations like cassava planters, employment of development partners, maintenance of clean field, and use of insecticides, adding that it had increased cassava yield from 35 tons to 40 tons per hectare.

She highlighted various industrial concerns that use thousands of metric tons of cassava roots as major raw materials on a daily basis within the State, saying "we cannot but plant cassava on a large scale with increased yields to meet daily demand for cassava roots".

 

Tunwase Dokunmu & Doyinsola Ajisebutu,

Press Officers, Ministry of Agriculture.