In a nation where agriculture stands as a cornerstone of its economy, the potential of cassava as a transformative crop often remains underestimated. Mustapha Othman Bakano, the newly appointed President of the Nigerian Cassava Growers Association (NCGA), brings to light the untapped opportunities and challenges within Nigeria’s cassava industry in this exclusive interview with Valuechain’s William Emmanuel Ukpoju.
With a vision to revolutionize cassava farming and utilization, Bakano shares insights into the economic, social, and environmental dimensions of cassava cultivation, advocating for a holistic approach towards harnessing its full potential.
Amidst concerns about economic losses attributed to cassava neglect, Bakano presents a compelling case for the integration of cassava across diverse sectors, emphasizing its role in reducing import bills and driving local industrial development. Furthermore, he delves into the intricate value chain of cassava, illuminating its significance beyond mere food production to encompass biofuel and renewable energy initiatives, echoing the urgency for sustainable solutions in a rapidly evolving global landscape.
Bakano’s strategic roadmap for the NCGA unfolds, emphasizing the pivotal role of partnerships, capacity-building, and technological innovation in empowering small-scale farmers and enhancing food security. Through the lens of the Local Private Partnership (LPP) concept, he envisions a collaborative ecosystem where local resources are leveraged to drive agricultural prosperity and community resilience.
As the interview unfolds, Bakano navigates through discussions on technical advancements, security concerns, and the imperative for inclusive membership engagement. His unwavering commitment to grassroots development and sustainable agriculture shines through, reflecting a profound dedication to addressing the pressing challenges facing Nigeria’s agricultural landscape.
Below are excerpts, exploring the boundless possibilities of cassava cultivation and the transformative impact it holds for Nigeria’s socio-economic fabric. Through Bakano’s visionary leadership and the collective efforts of the NCGA, the narrative of cassava is poised to evolve, heralding a new era of agricultural innovation and prosperity.
For record purposes, could you please introduce yourself?
My name is Mustapha Othman Bakano, I am the President of the Nigerian Cassava Growers Association (NCGA).
Could you please comment on the report that neglect of cassava costs Nigeria 20 million USD annually?
From one angle of the whole assessment, if for example, you have whole wheat that you have imported into the country which is almost 2.4bln USD; what we are saying is, if you introduce cassava into wheat, at just 10% cassava, you will reduce the import bill of the country by about 200million USD. That’s a lot of money and the most important thing to look at basically about cassava is the value chain itself. The entire value chain – it has ethanol, alcohol, and biofuel. In recent times, the NNPC has been talking about renewable energies and they have acquired a lot of land in Kogi state to see how they can farm cassava. As it is now, the situation is greater than we can imagine.
From your standpoint, it appears cassava has greater potential to boost Nigeria’s foreign exchange; what should be the way forward?
The way forward basically is to go into extensive farming of cassava because we have a vast land in the country, and it is very sufficient, although we have challenges like insecurity and others which the farmers are battling with, but what is important now is if you look at it, the amount of cassava is increasing because industries are now buying it to extract starch, ethanol and so on. If you look at it, it is actually increasing hunger in the country. So what we are thinking of doing now at the NCGA is to see how we can come up with a framework that can assist the local populace, particularly the small-scale farmers (somebody with a half-hectare or quarter-hectare of land), and put them together as a cluster then create a cooperative society so that they can help themselves and leverage on each other’s advantages.
We are using a small local PPP concept that can help them supply all the necessary information and materials that they will require within themselves to come together, but they cannot do that without having the capacity. So what we are doing at the NCGA is to see that we bring the right information, knowledge and expertise on how they can come together and help themselves survive. This is basically what the government cannot do because the government cannot go door-to-door to see how it can help people but we can. We have a register of people farming cassava. We go down to communities and down to the ward level just like you have in the strata of political parties. We have chairmen and they assist us to sensitize the local farmers on how they can come together. Recently, we processed a Microfinance bank that can help to empower our data on local cassava farmers. By the time we have all their details, certain grants can be accessed, then we will see how to ensure that they are identified. We have a KPI that will show their performance index and how they are working on the farms.
You spoke about the PPP concept; could you elaborate more?
It is a Public Private Partnership arrangement. What most people don’t understand about the PPP is that they could localize them. Most countries have localized their PPPs to suit the needs of their people and this is what we have to do in Nigeria, whether it is on infrastructures like roads and what have you, now we are focusing on food security. So as the country is grappling with the challenge of food security, we are looking at the situation where we can ensure that we have developed a concept, which is the PPP concept, or in this sense, Local Private Partnership. So it’s going to be LPP this time around for the locals so that they will understand how they can leverage on each other’s advantages. That’s how we are going to put it together and we need the government to understand that there is a framework that we are trying to develop by way of mitigating hunger in society.
There are media reports that the price of Garri has doubled, and earlier you mentioned that companies are buying cassava to extract ethanol and so on; I am wondering, could this be the reason why the price of Garri is on the increase?
Exactly, this is why I said we need a framework; it’s very important. You see, production is very low despite that in the world we are the highest producers of cassava. But basically our production level is quite low. What is important now is to up our game; we need to up our game in terms of production, in terms of growing this crop to ensure that we meet our industrial and local needs. When the framework is available and we share it with the government, the government will now need to weigh the importance of or the amount of commodity the industries should have and what goes to the food market. But you can’t do all of these without having the right data; you need to know who are the farmers. Where are they farming? Which location is for industrial and the location that can go for the food item? As it stands now, it is cumbersome. Nobody collates all the data in one place but we have a major data to assess the number of farmers that we have. Nigeria is a big country in terms of population. This means that we really need to up our game in terms of production.
From your summation, cassava can be used for the processing of ethanol and renewable energy; could you expand your thoughts?
Yes, ethanol is a biofuel and it is used for energy just like the diesel we buy for our generator sets; and recently, the market has gone high in Europe because most countries are cutting down on carbon emissions. Therefore, if we are producing ethanol, this is the time actually to hit another ‘oil’ for our country. If we go into this space with the level of sketch that we are developing at the NCGA, in terms of the framework that we are trying to develop, if the government could be able to implement it, I am very sure that Nigeria will be at the top of ethanol in the world.
…we could also export it as well
Absolutely, and talking about cassava exportation, it has been on for quite some time but most people do not know this. Recently, there has been a lot of awareness regarding the importance of cassava in different fields. Don’t forget that sugarcane also has ethanol, but cassava is much easier to process than sugarcane and the rest of them.
Earlier you spoke about PPP/LPP, if properly harnessed. Do you think it will have a major significance on cassava production in Nigeria?
Firstly, what informed my knowledge to come up with this concept of LPP is that, I realized that the government has been dishing out money to people and the concept of dishing out money without service is really a problem on its own, so I felt it’s really important that we should come up with a policy whereby the locals that the government is trying to reach should have something that they are doing so that they can be helped. For instance, if you have certain resources that you wish to share to these people within a period, then you can localise it for them and make them invest in a cluster such that, some have lands, somebody has hoes and harrows, and so on. If you bring these people together, with the resources that are allocated to them for this purpose, tell them to farm it, they will value the resources more. This is why we came up with the idea because you can’t keep giving people money without production; it makes them lazy. There are a lot of side effects to that kind of arrangement and of course the depletion. What value are we adding to the country? What value will they add to the country? So that’s why we insist that we are going to come up with a framework that the government should jettison these acts and focus on issuing resources into clusters and cooperative societies so that these people can easily be identified. You will know who you are giving what and who you are dealing with and in the end, assess what impact you have made in their lives over some time. This is a simple assessment that can be done.
What strategy do you have regarding using the LPP to develop or encourage local companies that may be interested in this venture?
This is very important because LPP cannot go with bigger companies but in the other framework, which is the international framework, is where we are coming with the refinery for the ethanol. There will be a refinery that we are working on. As we speak, some investors from the Netherlands have reached out to us and we are also looking at Turkey for areas of fabrication and so on. These are partners that we are trying to build and come up together such that by the time we consummate the partnership then we will approach the Federal Government to discuss how they will provide the enabling environment and provide adequate lands to see how we can farm. Already, NCGA has about 6000 hectares of land in Ekiti state. So, if we can go around the country let’s say regionally, to have 6000 hectares in every region, we will definitely go places.
So currently there isn’t any form of partnership between your association and the government?
No, there isn’t, but the government has been giving us grants for some time and in the past years, the government has assisted in activating anchor growers for the association up to the tune of billions of naira. It’s been a drive and the government has been assisting but this time around we want to look at different perspectives. There is a lot to be done and presently the government is looking at how we can work on four crops – maize, wheat, cassava and rice. These crops are what we consume majorly and if we keep hammering that government must provide everything; it’s going to be difficult for the system.
Earlier you spoke about exporting cassava to generate foreign exchange; is there some sort of streamlined market? For example, if I am a cassava grower and I have my produce, can I take it to NCGA to link me up with some foreign investors before…?
…you don’t have to go through all of that; you don’t need to come to us.
First and foremost, you need to be registered with us. You have your platform (because we have a platform) and what we are doing now is to upgrade the platform. Let me add that we know the production time of our growers. So by the time we check the index to ascertain your stage, particularly if we give you a grant, as the President, I can sit in my office and monitor all our growers and of course, we have ward Chairmen at all levels. So, to check your index and project assessment is very easy. One of the major problems farmers have is soil-rich facilities and cassava ferments after three days. This is very important for us, and this is where we come in. What we are trying to suggest in our new framework is that every region must have a processing plant. For example, if we have a grower in Kaduna who has finished his production, and the center is somewhere in Zamfara, we will clear and arrange the logistics because when you have registered logistic companies, you can tell them, look, our client in Kaduna has completed production and the logistic company will quickly mobilise and collect the produce and before you know it, his money is already in his bank account.
I would like you to speak about the technicalities and improved stems and stalks because before now when we plant cassava in the village, it takes up to a year before you could harvest. I would like you to tell us if there are improved ways that are currently available.
Thank you for that question. If you remember I just spoke about how a lot of work is in the process to see how we can steadily, not speedily get it right, because cassava is a special crop that grows in different countries; Nigeria and Thailand are the major producers of cassava. What we are trying to do for example, our nursery in Ekiti is a 1000-hectare nursery and it produces the stems. What we are doing now is to advance into an R&D (Research & Development) that can help us produce and harvest within five to six months instead of the ten months that it takes. At the end of the day, the stems will be housed in the nursery such that they are readily available for the next planting. Currently, we are working to see how every region will have an R&D plant that will make it easier for farmers to collect stems for planting. For now, these are the major technicalities that are a hitch. But Nigeria is blessed and endowed; and it will surprise you that cassava can grow almost everywhere in the country.
Looking at the trajectory of events especially as it relates to security, would you say that security is a major concern for cassava growers in Nigeria?
Well, I just took over the office recently. Nevertheless, I can still give you an analogy of what it entails. Security has been a threat not just to cassava growers but also to every farmer in the country. What I think now from the new arrangement we are having, is that when you are trying to bring in international partners, the first concern for them is the threat to investment and that is why we are focused on seeing what kinds of solutions are available. For us at NCGA, what we are working on now is for example, XYZ persons have been awarded certain hectares of land, and we will take coordinates of the land. This is done in partnership with the 5G network suppliers so that we can have it in satellite, which means from my office I can view the spot from my system using satellite transmissions. There will also be a link to our Rapid Response Team which is the security agencies in Nigeria, so that by the time unwanted elements are approaching such farms, we can be able to send signals to the right security agencies to take immediate action before they even cause any harm.
Is there any form of partnership between the NCGA and security agencies in Nigeria regarding this arrangement?
This is what we are currently working on, because the framework is supposed to carry everything and it is a compendium of what we intend to present to the government.
On a lighter note, we would love to hear about your political interests and ambitions
Well, that’s in the past now, though I contested for the governorship seat of Kaduna state in 2019 and in 2023 I also came out but couldn’t get to the primaries, so I decided to jettison the idea and then go back to where I came from.
Are there any future political ambitions that we should know of?
For now, I don’t have any. My concern is the food security of the country because my people are hungry. Coming from Kaduna state, we have about six million people and if you come out of your house, you see what you see every day, I mean, what I am looking at is a situation where we can leverage on the existing platforms that we have and then proffer our kind of professionalism, then see how God can help us deliver our people. The hunger is real, true and it is really biting hard.
On a final note, what does it require to join the NCGA?
Basically it’s just a token, not more than ten thousand naira. The most important thing is to get the form, fill in your details and then we capture it in the system. That’s all, until you have land that you want to grow cassava and you would like us to have a discussion with you about the business plan. No matter how small, we encourage that there should be a case study and plan because I have informed my people that it is time to go small scale to see how the downtrodden can have access to the NCGA so that we can be able to assist them.
You spoke about having Chairmen at the ward level; let’s say I want to join your association; how do I locate or contact these chairmen? Is there a physical office that I should go to?
We have 36 offices across Nigeria and the FCT. Right now we are upgrading the system so that it will carry the caliber of what we are bringing. I am bringing technical people on board and I have created a new ICT and Capacity Building section. We will go to the universities to collaborate in terms of research and capacity development. We are also going to partner with TEtFund and the rest of them to see how we can integrate institutions of learning into the set-up to drive innovation in agriculture, particularly in cassava.
Are there certain criteria to be considered before membership?
Criteria matters. Let’s say you live in a community and you can gather people together to buy into this business, we will work with you to see how we will harness all that needs to be harnessed after which an appraisal will be given. If you can score up to 75% in the appraisal, then you are good to go.
Do you have a website?
We are currently working on it and very soon it will be launched. For now, we want to make sure that we capture all necessary details, especially as regards international partnerships before we officially launch the website.
Mustapha Othman Bakano is a businessman, farmer, Public Private Partnership expert, and also a politician. He has for over 25 years been on the business field, contested governorship position in Kaduna State in 2019 under the African Peoples Alliance (APA) party. He has participated in global Public Private Partnership frameworks on infrastructure in both Turkey and Europe. He is presently the president of the Nigerian Cassava Growers Association (NCGA).