“Take opportunities in baking bread with 40 percent cassava”

The Head of the Hotel and Catering Unit of IITA, Mr Samiran Mazumdar, has unveiled the opportunities in including cassava in baking, with a call on the IITA Agripreneurs to take advantage of the technology.

In a lecture on 23 August 2013, he encouraged them to be actively involved in initiatives that would promote the inclusion of cassava in making bread and confectionary.

He highlighted the benefits from including cassava as follows: employment creation, food self-sufficiency, and food security, and called on the Agripreneurs to be innovative in terms proffering ways that would disseminate the technology far and wide.

As developed by IITA, the inclusion of 40 percent cassava flour in baking aims at diversifying the uses of the root crop. The Nigerian Government estimates foreign exchange savings of over N250 billion annually from a cut in wheat imports.

Other benefits include a better price for cassava and improved livelihoods for cassava farmers.

Mr Mazumdar urged the Agripreneurs to consider marketing the cassava bread in kiosks located at strategic locations in Nigeria, baking and/or being actively involved in raising awareness on the economic and health benefits of including cassava in food.

Other resource persons who gave presentations were IITA biometrician, Mr Sam Korie, and IITA Postharvest Engineer, Mr Thierno Diallo.