All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN) , Kwara Chapter on Tuesday, urged the Federal Government to provide at least one cassava processing machine in the state.

Mr Daniel Ajiboye, the Acting chairman of the association, made this call in an interview with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) at the ongoing National Agricultural Show in Tudunwada, Nasarawa State.

The National Agricultural Show was organised by the National Agricultural Foundation of Nigeria (NAFN) in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

He said that the provision of a cassava processing machine was necessary in order to minimise huge post-harvest losses experienced by farmers.

"As we all know, the state depends mainly on agriculture because we do not have oil like other states, so we put all our available resources into agriculture.

"We engage in farming activities such as rice, groundnut, cocoa, cashew, kolanut, and cassava; In fact, recently, Kwara was rated as one of the best cassava producing states in Africa.

"This is because of the fertile soil we are blessed with but the problem is that there is no single processing centre in the whole state."

He explained that farmers in the state transported their cassava tubers to as far as Anambra State for processing, adding that the cost was high, considering the bad roads in the country.

"What we are asking the Kwara and Federal Governments is to at least provide one cassava processing centre in each senatorial district to ease farmers' pain.

"This will go a long way to bring about development in the agriculture sector.

"If this is put in place, it will not only address the problem of post-harvest losses in the country, but also encourage more farming.

He, however, commended the Federal Government for introduccing the Agricultural Transformation Agenda (ATA) but said that a lot needed to be done for farmers in the rural areas. (NAN)