The Analysis Of Federal Government Effort Towards Cassava Production (A Case Study Of Nkanu East Lga Enugu State)
Chapiter 1
Introduction
1.1 The Study’s Background
One of the most significant crops in Nigeria is cassava. In terms of the area dedicated to it and the number of farmers cultivating it, it is the most widely farmed crop in the Southern region of the nation. In recent years, the middle belt’s importance of cassava has grown as well. In all regions, cassava has become quite popular as a good and profitable crop and is quickly displacing yam and other traditional mainstays of the region. Cassava can be grown on more than a fourth of the world’s arable land.
Early Portuguese explorers brought cassava (Manihot Esculenta Crantz) from South America to central Africa in the sixteenth century (Jones 1959). It was likely emancipated slaves who brought the cassava crop to Southern Nigeria as they arrived from South America with the Islands of Scio-Tonne and Fernando Po A. E. at the time, there were Portuguese colonies along the shores of Nigeria (Ekandem). Cassava, however, did not become a significant crop With an annual production of approximately 34 million tons of tuberous roots, Nigeria is currently the greatest producer of cassava in the world. Cassava is vital not just as a healthy food, but perhaps more so as a significant source of income for rural people. In Nigeria, cassava is consumed mostly in a variety of processed forms. Its usage in industry and as livestock feed is widely recognized, but it is progressively expanding, particularly as significant substitution becomes more apparent in the industrial sector of the economy.
Comparing it to other staples, cassava is the cash crop that provides money for the most households. It is produced using pertinent acquired supplies on an annual basis, perhaps even more frequently than other staples, and is cultivated for sale.
Cassava has some natural qualities that make it appealing as a food source, particularly to the Nigerian enterprises that prepare cassava. First, it has a variety of uses and is rich in carbohydrates, particularly starch. Second, it is readily available all year long, making it preferred to other more cyclical crops like grains, peas, and beans and other crops for food security. Cassava is more tolerant of low soil fertility than grains are, and it also has greater resistance to disease, pests, and drought. Additionally, its roots can be stored in the ground for months after they have reached maturity. The federal government (IFAD) has identified these characteristics in the crop as lending itself to a commodity-based strategy to poverty alleviation (FAD/IC, 1995). These characteristics are paired with other socioeconomic considerations. The federal government directly intervened in the implementation of the IFAD assisted cassava multiplication project (CMP) between 1987 and 1996 as a way of providing effort to the subsector due to the socioeconomic importance of cassava and the accidental introduction of cassava mealybug which ravaged most cassava fields in the major producing areas. Early in the 1980s, Mealybug and Green Spider Mite production of cassava decreased due to the combined effects of pests and illness (Mosaic virus, cassava bacterium brilliant), endangering the safety of the nation’s food supply in Udemili South in Anambra State’s Nkanu East. In response, IFAD launched the CMP as a parallel-financed component of the MSADP-L with World Bank assistance. The CMP’s main goal was to increase the number of better varieties available to the industries that process cassava, market them, and distribute them to them to increase output and revenue.
Situation Of The Problem
Since the 1970s, government programs like the National Accelerated Food Production Programme (NAFPPO), Operation Feed the Nation (OFN), the Agricultural Development Projects (ADP), the development of the National Agricultural Research Systems, and the cassava subsector’s non-governmental organizations’ efforts have resulted in a number of measures that support the production, processing, and marketing of cassava. Through these initiatives, significant progress has been made in root storage, agronomic techniques, genetic improvement, processing technology development, and rural infrastructure. Consolidated efforts have also been made to teach farmers about the new practices. As a result, improved cultivars now occupy 0.75 percent of the land area used to grow cassava, and key labor-intensive processing steps, including grating, dewatering, and milling, have been automated. On cassava land area increase and output growth, this has had a significant impact. Despite the rapid increase in cassava production, Nigeria’s cassava subsector faces a number of challenges, including pest and disease issues, agronomic difficulties, a lack of planting materials, inconsistent policy measures, poor market access, a lack of processing options that are sufficiently diverse, an ineffective extension delivery system, and insufficient access to better processing technology. Consequently, the following should be part of future intervention plans:
– The creation, quick reproduction, and spread of better varieties to increase the variety and accessibility of improved planting materials.
– The improvement and spread of better agronomic methods for producing cassava.
– Intentional efforts to encourage the development of cassava processing prototypes, identify applicable and practical technologies, and provide incentives for regional business owners to produce them. This will save labor, increase processing efficiency, improve product quality, and increase marketability. Such devices should be gender-sensitively designed, keeping in mind the crucial function that women play in the processing industry.
– Strengthening Extension: Connecting farmers to research to support the continuous dissemination of cultivars, management strategies, and processing methods. This should result in the mobilization of farmers through an emphasis on participatory development, family- or group-based extension services, seed multiplication activities that give due recognition to the role of women in production, processing, and marketing, assistance that would allow all farmers to benefit as much as possible from development programmes, and adequate and sustained research funding that must be timely released.
– Creation of new cassava products as well as packaging methods for both old and new items.
– Promoting cassava’s industrial applications and expanding processing choices to boost cassava production and rural households’ earnings.
– Development of a good macroeconomic strategy to support cassava development over the long term.
– Investing in rural infrastructure, particularly in feeder roads and water supplies, to encourage the production, processing, and marketing of cassava;
– Greater use of science and technology in the construction of infrastructure facilities for the production, processing, and marketing of cassava by the private sector and non-governmental organizations.
1.3 Study’s Objective
The overall goal of this study is to evaluate the federation government’s efforts to increase cassava output using the Nkanu East of Enugu State as a reference point. Consequently, the following particular goals have been set:
– To assess cassava’s economic significance
– To ascertain the government’s role in Nigeria’s cassava production.
Objectives To determine how to increase Nigeria’s cassava production.
– To learn about further cassava production, processing, and storage measures
– To formulate recommendations in light of the study’s findings.
1.4 Questions For Research
1. What were the national production and consumption trends for cassava between 2001 and 2010?
2. What are the main initiatives the federal government is taking to promote cassava production?
3. How can the production, processing, and marketing of the crops, as well as the investment in cassava research and development, be analyzed?
4. To what extent have federal government initiatives or efforts succeeded or failed (or were constrained)?
5. How effective were the federal government’s interventions or efforts to increase cassava production? How limited were they?
1.5 Hypothesis For Research
H1: The federal government’s key initiatives or endeavors to increase cassava output have been successful.
H0: The federal government’s investments or efforts to increase cassava output have had a negative impact.
H2: The crop’s production, processing, and marketing have all improved as a result of investments made in research and development.
H0: The crop’s production, processing, or marketing have not improved as a result of research and development investments in cassava.
H3: Investments have been made in service and infrastructure to support growth (roads, storage facilities, etc.) and processing infrastructure.
H0: Neither service infrastructure (roads, storage facilities, etc.) nor processing infrastructure has been invested in to support the development of the crop.
H4: The federal government’s initiatives to promote cassava cultivation have had some success.
H0: Interventions or initiatives made by the federal government to increase cassava output have failed.
1.6 Impact Of The Study
It is impossible to overstate how important the study is, therefore it will be helpful in the following ways:
– The creation, quick replication, and spread of enhanced varieties to increase the diversity and accessibility of enhanced planting materials.
– Intentional attempts to encourage local businesses to manufacture prototypes for cassava processing and to identify appropriate and usable technology. This will reduce labor requirements, increase processing effectiveness, elevate product quality, and improve marketability. Such a machine’s design ought to be gender-sensitive, taking into account the crucial role that women play in processing.
– Strengthening links between researchers and large numbers of farmers to support the continued dissemination of cultivars, management practices, and processing methods. This should result in the mobilization of farmers through a focus on a participatory development approach, family- or group-based extension services, activities for multiplying seeds, and assistance that would allow all farmers to benefit as much as possible from development programs. Adequate and sustained research funding must also be released on schedule.
– Creation of new cassava products as well as packaging methods for both old and new items.
– Promoting cassava’s industrial applications and processing diversity; this is a way to boost rural households’ income and stimulate expanded cassava production.
– The creation of a sound macroeconomic strategy that would support long-term cassava development.
1.8 Terminal Definitions
– Cassava: The most significant crop in Nigeria, it is a sort of floor formed from the thick roots of a tropical plant.
– Federal governance: A form of governance wherein each state in a nation would be in charge of its own internal affairs.
– Crops: Cassava has long been a significant crop on the land because it is a plant that is grown in huge quantities, particularly as food.
Land that is used to cultivate crops or plants that are also wild-grown on a farm, etc. in order to be sold.
– Industries: A manufacture of things from raw materials, notably in factories heavy/light industries.
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