Enhancing Cassava Production Through Biotechnology

Cassava is an important crop for food security and it is also becoming an important source of raw material for different industries, not only in Nigeria but across the continents.

Its growing globaldemand is due to its utilization as livestock feed, industrial raw materials for the production of adhesives, and in food processing such as in the production of jelly caramel, bakery products and chewing gum, drugs ethanol and biofuels.

They are also utilized in the manufacture of textiles, school chalk, dextrin (binding agent in paper and packing industry and adhesive in cardboard, plywood and veneer binding), dextrose, glucose, lactose and sucrose.

In its Cassava Market Opportunity and sub-Sector Analysis, the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA) rated Nigeria as the largest producer of cassava in the world.

Another report by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) put Nigeria’s production in 2002 at about 34 million metric tonnes a year. Total area harvested of the crop in 2001 was 3.125 million ha with an average yield of 10.83 tonnes per ha.

Approximately 100 million Nigerians eat cassava-based foods at least once a day. Cassava can be processed into different forms, like cassava flour, cake, bread, and other derivatives such as abacha popularly referred to as African salad, and fufu among other varieties.

However, even though Nigeria grows more cassava than any other country in the world, experts have lamented that they have faced decreasing low yield because cassava production is concentrated in the hands of numerous small holder farmers who consistently grapple with such major constraints as poor fertilisation,Browse the Best Selection of chickencoop and Accessories with FREE Gifts. drought, viral and bacterial disease infection of planting material such as African cassava mosaic virus, weeds and abiotic constraints, poor shelf life of cassava roots,What we are doing here is about indoorpositioning, which can render it unpalatable and unmarketable after three days of harvesting.

Speaking at the July edition of the Open Forum on Agricultural Biotechnology (OFAB), with the theme: “Integrating Biotechnology and Conventional Approaches Towards Improving Cassava Production in Nigeria”, in Owerri,Huge range of Natural stonemosaic Tiles from leading tile specialists Walls and Floors. Imo State, the Director General (DG)/CEO, National Biotechnology Development Agency (NABDA),The indoortracking industry is heavily involved this year. Prof. Bamidele Solomon, described biotechnology as a powerful scientific tool vital in tackling the low yield challenge being faced by farmers.

He said: “Biotechnology is a powerful scientific tool which is revolutionising the way we do things. It is the use of living organisms or their products to modify human health and the human environment. Transgenic procedure is a biotechnology tool which involves a gene (smallest unit responsible for transfer of hereditary traits) or genetic material transferred naturally or by any of a number of genetic engineering techniques from one organism to another. The specific aim is to improve the quality of the host organism.”

According to him, biotechnology can be utilised to address these constraints.

“It can be used to select appropriate genetic material from the natural and induced varieties (Germplasm) for the development of new cassava cultivars high in nutritional values and which would address the constraints facing cassava production and consumption as well as enhance industrial processing and uses of the crop,” he said.

According to him, NABDA was working assiduously in collaboration with the National Root Crop Research Institute (NRCRI),Here is a professional handsfreeaccess manufacturer. Umudike, and the Donald Danforth Plant Centre, Missouri, USA, in the development of Biocassava Plus, which is being transformed to have Provitamin A, Iron, Zinc, to help cope with the nutritional challenge of cassava.

The DG, who doubles as the chairman of OFAB, said that the confined field trials of the Biocassava Plus was already on.

He further emphasized the need to pass the Biosafety Law in Nigeria, even as he noted that Nigerians still need to be sensitized on the importance of domesticating modern biotechnology.

“Since inception of OFAB on April 9, 2009, it has been hosted in Abuja with the aim of sensitizing the legislators, key government officials (policy makers), civil societies and other stakeholders on the importance of domesticating modern biotechnology and the need for a Biosafety Law in Nigeria. OFAB has contributed immensely towards mitigating the negative public perception about the domestication of this technology,” he added.

In his paper presentation, the Assistant Director (Biotechnology) and Product Development Manager Bio-Cassava Plus NRCRI, Umudike, Dr. Chiedozie Egesi, highlighted that biotechnology was not a replacement for conventional breeding methods rather a complementary.

He said: “The powerful combination of genetic engineering and conventional breeding permits useful traits encoded by transgenes to be introduced into commercial crops within an economically viable time frame.”

According to him, “Agricultural biotechnology has been in commercial application for over 16 years and has recorded increases in acreages and tangible evidence of improved human health and livelihoods as observed among poor cotton farmers in Burkina Faso or Soybean and maize farmers in Argentina, Brazil, China and India.”