By Ify Mgbemena
Experts have teamed up with local processors and international technology partners to develop Nigeria’s first cassava-based instant noodles.
Nigeria, the world’s largest cassava producer, harvests over 60 million tonnes annually, yet less than 10 percent of this staple is processed into value-added products.
For decades, smallholder farmers have relied on traditional uses like garri, fufu, and animal feed, while import bills for wheat-based foods continued to mount.
Experts say unlocking cassava’s industrial potential could transform rural livelihoods, bolster food security, and curb foreign exchange outflows.
Speaking to AgroNigeria in an exclusive interview, Dr. Tony Bello, Founder and Chairman of Shine Bridge Global and Co-Founder of SingSong Global, explained how his companies have teamed up with local processors and international technology partners to develop Nigeria’s first cassava-based instant noodles.
“What started as a taste test of sago noodles in Indonesia quickly evolved into a vision: to turn cassava, the backbone of African agriculture, into modern convenience foods,” Bello said.
He described how a partnership with a Dutch drum-drying specialist and an Indonesian food innovation firm paved the way for pilot trials, recipe refinement, and consumer sampling back home in Lagos.
The result is a range of five flavor-profiled noodles and MSG-free prawn crackers, all made from locally sourced cassava starch and processed through a clean-label drum-drying and extrusion method.
Early test marketing has generated more than 25,000 online impressions, while on-site taste trials in Lagos schools and community centers have drawn enthusiastic feedback.
Beyond product innovation, Shine Bridge and SingSong have embedded community development into their business model. Farmer cooperatives in Oyo, Edo, Akwa Ibom, Rivers, and Cross River states now receive improved planting materials, regenerative farming training, and guaranteed offtake agreements.
“This is about more than processing; it’s about restoring dignity and creating dignified livelihoods,” Bello noted.
Nutritionally, cassava’s resistant starch offers gut-health benefits and a low-glycemic alternative for growing health-conscious demographics.
Environmentally, cassava outperforms wheat and potatoes in water use and land efficiency, making it a climate-smart crop.
Yet regulatory hurdles remain: Shine Bridge has navigated both U.S. FDA GRAS and Nigerian NAFDAC standards, while actively engaging in policy forums to streamline approval processes for vegetatively propagated crops.
Looking ahead, Dr. Bello envisions a pan-African network of community-level processing hubs that will feed into both domestic and export markets.
“Our ambition is to prove that Africa can lead in food innovation,” he said, “turning underutilized staples into globally competitive products that drive economic growth from the ground up.”
Cassava’s journey from smallholder fields to supermarket shelves may well mark the dawn of a new agro-industrial era in Nigeria.
