Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Senator Abubakar Atiku Bagudu, has said that Nigeria stands to save more than N3 trillion every year in foreign exchange through the implementation of the Cassava Bio ethanol Value Chain Development Project.
He made this known while addressing stakeholders at a two-day capacity building workshop on the project for the South East zone, held recently in Enugu.
Bagudu, who was represented by the Director of Economic Growth in the ministry, Mr Auwal Mohammed, explained that the savings would come from blending bio ethanol with Premium Motor Spirit, a move that would significantly cut the country’s dependence on imported fuel.
According to him, the Federal Government has rolled out the project to empower about 14 million smallholder farmers and position them as central players in the emerging cassava-based bio economy. He noted that the initiative is structured to connect agricultural production with industrial processing, energy transition and rural economic development.
The minister said the programme would elevate cassava from a subsistence crop to a strategic industrial commodity, with wide ranging benefits including job creation, higher rural incomes and increased domestic production in the renewable energy sector.
He added that the scope of the project covers the entire cassava value chain, from the supply of improved planting materials and starch production to the use of by-products such as carbon dioxide generated during fermentation and animal feed derived from distillery grains.
Bagudu further disclosed that implementation would be driven through a triple helix knowledge transfer arrangement designed to deliver improved and disease resistant cassava varieties, attract private investment, expand access to technology and markets, and strengthen infrastructure and the policy environment.
Also speaking at the event, the Director of Agriculture in the Economic Growth Department of the ministry, Mr Olaifa Alade, said the workshop was organised to equip stakeholders with the knowledge and skills required for the successful rollout of the cassava bio ethanol project.
