Unless the Nigerian agricultural sector embraces mechanisation of cassava cultivation, its leading role as the highest producer of cassava may be threatened.

Making this disclosure yesterday, the Acting Director of National Centre for Agricultural Mechanisation (NCAM), Ilorin, Dr. Yomi Kasali said all stakeholders in the sector should cultivate cassava and embrace the priority the government of President Muhammadu Buhari is giving to agriculture towards boosting the nation's Gross Domestic Products (GDP).

Kasali, while addressing participants at the opening ceremony of training of cassava growers and tractor operators at the NCAM, said Nigeria's production capacity of 20 tonnes of cassava per hectare had stagnated for long, the development he believed should at present have increased to about 30 tonnes per hectare.

According to the NCAM boss, "Nigeria has always been the highest producer of cassava but the production per hectare has stagnated at about 15-20 tonnes per hectare compared to more than 30 tons per hectare in other countries such as Brazil, Malaysia, and so on. Efforts should therefore, be put on deck to see that the hectarage production be improved."

The programme was bankrolled by Cassava Mechanisation and Agro-processing Project (CAMAP), in partnership with African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF), NCAM, Zambia Agricultural Research Institute, and National Crop Resources Research Institute (NCRRI), Uganda.

The Nigerian trainees at the event were drawn from four Nigerian states of Kogi, Kwara, Osun and Ogun.For Kasali, "this training would not have come at a better time than this period of economic recession in the country when all tiers of government are trying to embrace the diversification programme of the Federal Government. In the 70s, agriculture contributed over 70 per cent of the country GDP but the advent of the discovering of oil and its subsequent multi-dollar income generation, changed the economic scenario and agriculture which was then the mainstay of the economy was relegated to the background."

"This training will go a long way in improving the skill of cassava growers and the tractor operators. The operation and maintenance of tractors and equipment on cassava mechanisation will go a long way in improving the skill of operators and maintenance capabilities of the beneficiaries."

He lamented the heaps of scraps and carcass of different tractors in Nigeria, due to lack of spare parts and proper maintenance noting that most tractor owners would prefer to maintain and repair their tractors "when it is usually too late (breakdown maintenance) but preventive maintenance is better option. When tractor is routinely maintained, it guarantees long operating life and improved productivity."

Believing that the NCAM would impact in the trainees the capacity to diversify from production and delve into the value addition processes in order to increase wealth, the NCAM boss said the institute has designed arrays of production and processing equipment to aid cassava production. The equipment include: cassava lifter, hydraulic dewatering press, cassava grater, cassava chipping machine, cassava sifter, mechanical garri fryer and flash dryer.

Country's representative of AATF, Umaru Abu said the association created 13 years ago has its headquarters in Nairobi Kenya and has spread to 13 countries in Africa including Nigeria. Abu thanked NCAM for adding values to the AATF's powered cassava growing capacity among member countries adding that the body would step aside as soon as the required skills have been given to the targeted groups in the Cassava business.