LITERATURE REVIEW - BACKGROUND: Nigeria
is the largest producer of cassava in the world. It is estimated that in 2001,
its production was about 34million metric tons (Mt) a year (F.A.O. 2002) and
possibly even 37.9 million metric tones (CBN, 2002). Presently, cassava is
primarily produced for food especially in the form of; garri, lafun and fufu
with little or no use in the agribusiness sector as an individual raw material.
However, the crop can be processed into several secondary products of
industrial market value. These products include; chips, pellets, flour,
adhesives, alcohol and starch which enhances health.
Cassava
is a vital raw material in the livestock feed, alcohol/ethanol, textile, confectionery, wood, food and soft drink industries. Moreover, these products
are trad-able in the international
markets.
The
persistent rise in the population of this nation and Ihiala Local Government
Area to be specific needs an accelerated increase in food production especially
cassava. The production of cassava is not without constraints. Hence, the
research work is based on economic analysis of cassava production in Ihiala
L.G.A. of Anambra State.
RELATED
INFORMATION
Therefore,
relevant literatures were reviewed based on these issues.
DEFINITION OF CASSAVA:
Cassava
(Manihot escullenta) is a perennial woody shrub of the Tuphorbiallae family. It
is grown principally for its tuberous root but its leaves are also eaten in
some parts of Africa and used as animal feed in parts of Asia. The roots are
25-35% starch and the leaves contain significant amount of protein and other
nutrients. Cassava is a hardy crop, tolerant to extreme ecological conditions
and even thrives on impoverished soils.
Cassava
is a major staple food in virtually all parts of the country. It is a key food
security and income generating crop and Nigeria is the world’s largest producer
of cassava. Cassava is eaten as; fufu, gari, lafun and akpu by more than so
percent of the rural populace and is a relatively cheap source of carbohydrate
in fresh and processed food preparations for both rural and urban communities
(F.A.O. 2002).
THE CASSAVA
TRANSFORMATION:
The dramatic
cassava transformation that is under way in Nigeria is African’s best kept secrets.
The cassava transformation describes how the new TMS varieties have transformed
cassava from a low-yielding cash- crop, that is prepared and consumed as garri
(C.B.N. 2002). With the aid of mechanical graters to prepare garri, cassava is
increasingly being produced and processed as a cash crop for urban consumption
in Nigeria.
In Africa,
traditionally, cassava is produced on small-scale family firms. The roots are
processed and prepared as a subsistence crop for home consumption and for sale
in village market and shipment to urban centres.
Over the past 50
years, small holders in Nigeria have increased production of cassava as a cash
crop, primarily for urban market. This shift to commercial production for urban
consumers, livestock feed and industrial uses can be described as the cassava
transformation.
During the
cassava transformation, high-yielding cassava varieties increased yields while
labor-saving and improved processing technologies reduces the cost of producing
and processing cassava food products to the point where they are competitive
with food grains such as; wheat, rice, maize, and sorghum for urban consumers.
Looking ahead,
as the cost of cassava production, harvesting, processing and marketing are
reduced, one can expect cassava to play an expanded role as a source of
livestock feed and industrial raw material in African as well as a source of
foreign exchange earning through the export of cassava pellets for livestock
feed (Nweke, et al 2002).
AREA CULTIVATED:
Total area
devoted to agriculture cultivation is about 30.7 million hectares with farmers
cultivating less than 2hectares averagely, operating with simple tools. The
agricultural sector of Nigeria has failed to keep pace with the demand of
household and industries for farm producer as food or raw materials (Nwaiwu, et
al 2010). Total area used for harvesting the crop “Cassava” in 2001 was 3.125
million hectares with an average yield of 10.83mT per hectare (F.A.O. 2002.).
This shows a remarkable increase.
CHOICE OF LAND:
Choose
well-drained, deep, loamy soils where such is not available, sandy and clayed
soils can be managed intensively for cassava production. However, very sandy and clayed soils should be avoided.
LAND
PREPARATION:
Cassava
production requires good land preparation, which varied considerably depending
mainly on climate, soil type, vegetation, topography and degree of
mechanization. Planting on the flat is recommended when the soil is deep and
well drained as in sandy loan soils; shallow and clayey soils should be tilled
and ridged. Soils prone to water-logging require ridges or mounds. Planting on
ridges or mounds is a general practice in the rain forest and derived savannah
zones in Nigeria.
YIELD OF
CASSAVA:
Between 1995 and
1999, Nigeria on the average produced 31.8 million tones of cassava annually,
thus becoming the largest producer in the world (F.A.O. 2002). In the 1970s and
early 1980s, the petroleum revenue enable the Nigerian Government to experiment
with alternative extension programs, for production program for example, the
N.A.F.P.P (National Accelerated Food Production Program) was set up in 1972 to
design, test and transfer technological packages for five crops; rice, sorghum,
maize, millet and wheat. It was after two years in 1974, that cassava was added
to the list. The World Bank financed the establishment of three ADPs
(Agricultural Development Projects). In Funta, Gombe and Guzau- all in northern
Nigeria outside the major cassava producing zone. Thus, in the 1970s, cassava
did not benefit from the large- scale public investment in the ADPs.
Following the
radical reorientation of agricultural policy during SAP years, beginning in the
mid 1980’s, cassava emerged as an important crop in the national effort to
replace imported foods with domestic production.
In order to
maintain the leadership role of the country in cassava production, the Federal
Government had in recent times set up a committee tagged presidential imitative
on Cassava Production, Processing and Export.
Lagemann, (1999)
studied cassava yields in three villages in south -eastern Nigeria with
different population densities and conclude that cassava yield declined, as
population pressure increased. Lagemann found the mean yields for the three
villages to be 2 tones per hectare in the high population density village, 3.8
tones per hectare in the low population density village. It is known that
during the cassava transformation, high –yielding cassava varieties increases
yields.
CASSAVA
PRODUCTION:
Nigerian cassava
production is by far the largest in the world, a third more than production in
Brazil and almost double the production in Indonesia and Thailand. The Food and
Agricultural Organization of United Nations (F.A.O) in Rome (F.A.O. 2004)
estimated 2002, cassava production in Nigeria to be approximately 34 million
tones.
Comparing
the output of various crops in Nigeria, cassava production ranked first,
followed by yam product at 27 million tones in 2002, sorghum at 7 million
tones, millets at 6 million tones and rice at 5 million tones (F.A.O. 2004a).
Expansion
of cassava production has been relatively steady since 1980, with an additional
push between the years 1988 to 1992, owing to the release of improved IITA
varieties. Cassava’s low input requirement, a trait that is compatible with
African’s resources endowment (weak rural credit market’s relatively abundant
land and seasonal labour scarcity) and the cassava’s resistance to pest and
disease explain the expansion in cassava production since the 1960s.
Food shortages
precipitated by a combination of political and civil unrest, economic
stagnation, erratic rainfall patterns and rapid population growth have had a
much greater influence on cassava production in Africa than anywhere else in
the world (Scott, et al 2000).
CASSAVA VARIETIES:
In the early to
mid twentieth century when cassava was at the rural food staple stage in
Nigeria, farmers relied on farmer- to-farmer transfer of varieties until 1940
in Nigeria. The number of cassava varieties (cultivars) introduced in the 65 COSCA.
Cassava
varieties planted by the farmers were mostly the sweet type that could be eaten
without processing but gave low yield and were susceptible to pests and
diseases.
Farmers replaced
several of the sweet cassava varieties with the bitter varieties (Nweke, et al
1994).
The cassava
transformation describe how the new TMS varieties, have transformed cassava
from a low–yielding, farmers reserve crop to a high –yielding cash crop that is
prepared and consumed as garri, a dry cereal.
RECOMMENDED VARIETIES:
Several improved
varieties of cassava have been recommended and released in Nigeria.
The most
commonly grown of these are TMS 30572, 4 (2) 1425, 92/ 0326 and NR 8082. More
recently, 42 new improved genotypes have been made available to farmers in the
south-south and south-east for participatory selection so that, they can
identify specific best- bet varieties for each of the cassava growing
communities. For now, you could choose any of the commonly grown improved
varieties for planting, since they are stable across environments. However, you
will also need to select the variety with the highest performance in your farm
site and environs.
PESTS AND
DISEASES OF CASSAVA:
A good pest and
disease information and management is necessary for high productivity in cassava.
Cassava has been under attack by pests and diseases such as; the Mealy bugs,
Green mite, Mosaic disease and the Bacterial blight (Yaniek, 1994). Cassava
mosaic disease (CMD) is caused by a complex of viruses and transmitted by a
whitefly (Benisia tabaci). Cassava bacterial blight (CBB) is caused by bacteria
(Xanthomas spp). Other diseases of cassava are; Anthracnose, Cercospora leaf
spot and Root rot. The above named diseases can be best controlled by planting
resistant varieties. Plants infected at an early stage, should be pruned to
allow for new re-growth or uprooted entirely and burnt as well as inter crop with tall growth plants
like maize to reduce vector movement and transmission of the disease.
Some
of the identified pests that causes reduction in cassava production are;
Cassava Mealy bugs (CM), cassava Green spider mites, Termites, variegated
Grasshopper and Vertebrate pests. Some of their control measures are; plant
resistant varieties treat with D-Aldrex 20, treat with Gamalin 20, use traps to
catch vertebrates pests and as well poison grain, provide wire mesh, fencing,
keep the farm and its surroundings weed free.
PROGRESS IN
CASSAVA RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT:
Cassava
production, processing and exports are major plan in the poverty alleviation
and food security program of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (F. G.N).
Government has overtime put in place several cassava development projects such
as; the Cassava Multiplication Project (C.M.P), Root and Tuber Expansion
programme (RTEP) and the Presidential Initiative on Cassava Production,
Processing and Exporting.
The
National Root Crop Research Institute (NRCRI) Umudike of Abia State, The
International Institute for Tropical Agricultural (IITA), Agricultural
Development Programmes (ADPs). The Ministries of Agriculture and Natural
Resources (MANRS), The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)
and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). With the
collaboration of the above institute involved in cassava genetic improvement.
Many improved resistant cultivars are currently in use in the country.
The
current policy of the Federal Government of Nigeria has encouraged cassava
development leading to a new orientation in the research
–extension-farmers linkage (Asogwa, et
al 2005) observed that, the input expansion policy of Government in the cassava
industry through the provision of improved cassava varieties and improved
processing technology let to efficient use of resources in cassava production
in Nigeria.
The
cassava transformation has shown that, the planting of the new high –yielding
TMS varieties provide a high-yield, the use of a predator wasp to control the
cassava Mealy bug marks a lots of progress in research and development.
GENETIC
IMPROVEMENT OF CASSAVA:
This highlights
the need for investments in R and D on the genetic, to enhance the impact of
the cassava transformation.
The improvement
of cassava genetic resources pool represents an unfinished agenda. TMS
varieties attain their peak yield 13 to 15 months after planting as compared
with 22 to 24 months for local varieties. But the COSCA researchers discovered
that, Nigeria farmers desired TMS varieties that could be harvested in less
than 12 months after planting without yield loss, in order to be able to plant
cassava on the same field every year because of growing market demand for garri
and population pressure on land.
In 2001, the
manager of the Nigerian Starch Mill (NSM) in Ihiala revealed to the COSCA
researchers that, the most critical constraints in his industry were irregular
supply of cassava and this is explained by two factors namely; the cassava
bulking period and the high production cost.
In Nigeria,
cassava production for import substitution as an industrial raw material
requires the development of early bulking varieties which will allow the
farmers to respond to industrial demand in a timely fashion.
The dramatic
increases in cassava production from 1984 to 1992 in Nigeria were driven by the
yield increasing genetic and agronomic technologies alone.
AGRONOMIC
PRACTICES:
Blackie, et al
(1990), there are three main fallow systems of cassava in Nigeria. The long
fallow, short fallow and continuous cultivation. According to them, due to
population growth, cassava cultivation under the long fallow system has
declined in Nigeria.
Consequently,
the research made by COSCA researchers shows that, most farmers now produce
cassava under the short fallow system because of cassava long growths period,
pests and diseases problem and compatibility with crops such as yam and maize,
which are grown in association with cassava.
ACQUISITION OF
PLANTING MATERIALS:
Stems of
improved varieties can be obtained from National Seed Service (NSS) state
offices of Agricultural Development Programme (ADP), the Cassava Growers
Association (CGA) and several out-growers who-produce quality stems for sale.
Stems are usually tied in bundles, each having 50 stems that are 1 meter long.
Fifty of such bundles are needed to plant 1 hectare of land.
STEM STORAGE:
Keep bundles of
stem stacked vertically on the soil, under a shade. The distal end of the stem
should touch the soil. Moisten the soil regularly and keep the surrounding weed
free. This way you can store your stems for more than 3 months. Under heat
stress, stroke in pit under shade.
CASSAVA
PLANTING:
Cassava plant is cultivated
vegetative by cutting, although the propagation material is vulnerable to
adverse climatic conditions as well as to pests and disease. Exposure to sun
after cutting can make the stem loose its viability through dehydration.
Cassava
stakes (cutting) for planting should be taken from plants 8-18 months old.
Stakes taken from older plants are lignified and they perform poorly due to
delayed sprouting and rooting.
The
time of planting should be done as soon as the rains become steady in your
areas. It is always potentially high when rain is steady.
The
optimum plant population for high root yield is 10,000 plants per hectare
obtainable when plants are spaced at 1x1m.
Cassava
is compatible with many crops when intercropped. The best intercrops of cassava
in Nigeria include; maize, groundnut, cowpea and vegetables.
FERTILIZER RATE
AND TIME OF APPLICATION:
Ideally,
fertilizer recommendations should be based on soil analysis but when this is
not done, then use the land history and vegetation as a guide. Land naturally
in undated with chromolaena odorata (Akintalataku) as weed can support a good
cassava crop without fertilizer while the presence of spear grass or poorly
established vegetation is a signal for fertilizer application. Under
cultivation in the forest zone, apply a first dose of 200kg (4 bags) of N.P.K
15:15:15 per hectare or a full small match box per plant. At 4-6 weeks after
planting (June- July). A second dose of 100kg of muriate of potash, apply it
again at 14-16 weeks. Apply fertilizer in holes 5cm deep and 10cm radius from
the plant. Do not apply fertilizer if the soil is dry.
CASSAVA
HARVESTING:
All parts of the
crop (stems, leaves and tuberous roots) can be harvested for specific markets.
Stems are usually high demand for planting materials of improved varieties at
the beginning of planting season. You can harvest, package and sell stems to
increase your profit margin from the farm.
Leaves
as vegetables, only the young succulent leaves are processed as silage for
animal feed, all the green leaves including the young parts of the stem are
harvested, chopped and ensiled.
Plants
can be harvested at 9-18 months after planting to give root yields.
MAJOR CASSAVA
FOOD PRODUCTS:
In Africa,
farmers and food processors market five groups of cassava products; fresh root,
dried root (called lafun in Nigeria). Paste products (called akpu in Nigeria),
a granulated product (called garri) and cassava leaves.
FRESH ROOT:
The roots of sweet varieties are
eaten raw, roasted in an open fire or boiled in water or oil. The cyanogens in
the roots are destroyed by slowly cooking the roots, starting with cold water.
Gradual heating promotes the hydrolysis of the cyanogens (Grace, 1998)
DRIED ROOT:
They are stored
or marketed as chips, balls and flour. There are two broad types of dried
cassava roots; fermented and unfermented (Alyanak, 1997). According to him,
preparing unfermented dried cassava roots by sun or smoking, drying is the
simplest method of cassava preparation.
Ezemenari, et al
(1998), the fermented dried cassava roots, the fermentation is accomplished in
one of the two ways, stacking in heaps or soaking in water for a number of
days. According to them, the fermentation process, whether in water or in
heaps, influences the taste of the final product.
PASTY PRODUCT:
To prepare the
pasty product, the roots are soaked in water for three to five days, during
which time the roots soften and ferment. The soaked roots are manually crushed and
sieved in water using a basket or a perforated metal bowl in a sack submerged
in water. (Tollens, 1992).
Ratanawaraha,
(1999) two forms of pasty products are common in Africa; uncooked and steamed
pastes. According to him, the most popular is called uncooked paste because it
is stored or marketed without cooking.
Berry, et al
(1993) to prepare steamed paste, fiber is removed by hand from roots, fermented
by soaking in water. It enhances the pulp into the sack while collecting the
fiber in the basket (Tollens, 1992).
GRANULATED
PRODUCT:
In Africa, there
are three common types of granulated cassava product; garri, attieke andtapioca ((Dunstan, 1997).
To make garri, a dry cereal
cassava roots, are peeled, grated, fermented and drained of effluent, then toasted
in a pan over an open fire. Garri is prepared in Nigeria, where cassava is
produced as a cash crop for urban consumption. The grating, effluent
expressing, pulverization, toasting and the addition of palm oil are adequate
to reduce cyanogens to a safe level (Hahn 1989).
In Nigeria,
garri is the most common form in which cassava is marketed (Doku, 1969 and
Ngoddy 1997). Garri is convenient product because it is stored and marketed in
a form in which it is ready to eat. Garri has a long shelf-life a year or more
as long as it is not exposed to moisture. It is therefore, alterative to urban
consumers.
CASSAVA LEAVES:
Cassava leaves
are edible and highly nutritious like other dark green leaves. They are
extremely valuable sources of vitamins A (carotene) and C, Iron, calcium and
protein (Lathan, 1979).
If leaf
harvesting is properly scheduled, it does not have an adverse effect on cassava
root yield (Dahinya, 1998 and Lutalachi and Ezumah, undated).
Cassava leaves
are not eaten in West Africa, except in Sierra Leone, because several
indigenous plants that supply vegetables are traditionally consumed with yam
(Okigbo, 1980).
NEW USES OF
CASSAVA:
Expanding the use of cassava in livestock feed:
Cassava like
feed grains consists nearly completely of starch and is easily digested.
Therefore, it is commonly used for feeding pigs, ruminants and poultry.
However, because of its deficiency in protein and vitamins, it must be
supplemented by other feeds. Livestock feed mills in using cassava as a raw
material .
COSCA
(2001) in Nigeria, the amount of cassava used in the livestock industry
increased from 0.56 million tones per year. In the 1980s after the Government
banned the importation of maize in 1985/ 86 and feed mills were forced to use
local raw material such as cassava.
Tewe,
et al (2001) what can be done to increase the use of cassava in livestock feed
in Nigeria? He opined that, in Nigeria poultry feed trial has shown that if
cassava roots and leaves were combined in a ratio of four to one, the mixture
could replace maize in poultry feed and reduce feed cost without loss in
weight. Grain or egg production (Tewe
and Bokanga, 2001).
EXPANDING
USE OF CASSAVA IN FOOD MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY:
In Nigeria, an increase in the use of cassava in food
manufacturing industries critically depends on the development of technologies
for industrial manufacture and packaging of traditional African cassava a food
product that have a snack value such as garri, attieke and chick wangue
(Vilpoux and Osipina, 1999).
In Nigeria, high
potential exists for use of cassava in biscuit manufacture.
In
Nigeria, because of an array of reasons, the composite cassava and wheat flour
food products are more expensive than all wheat flour. Food products for
example, a partial substitution of cassava for wheat in bread flour requires
expensive supplementary viscosity enhancers such as; eggs, milk and gums to
compensate for the lack of gluten in cassava (Eggleston and Omoaka 1994,
Defloor 1995, Onabolu et al, 1998).
CASSAVA AS AN INDUSTRIAL
RAW MATERIAL:
The potential
use of cassava as an industrial raw material is highest in the food industry
because cassava is primarily a food crop in Nigeria.
Technologies
exist for the use of cassava as a partial sub site for wheat in bread making
(satin 1988, Eggleston and Omoaka, 1998). But in Nigeria, the amounts of
cassava used in food manufacture by the food industries are insignificant.
In
Nigeria, the late 1990s, only 3 tons of cassavas are used per year for food
manufacture compared with 133,000 tons of maize (FAOSTAT).
In
2001, the COSCA study found that in Nigeria, imported starch was being used in
water-based drilling mud for petroleum but other types of starch could be used
if they gelatinize in cold water.
Nigeria
cassava starch in considered to be of low quality by Nigerian industries and
none is exported.
GENDER:
Cassava has been
described as a women’s crop by some scholars (Ikpi, 1989 and okorji, 1983)
found in the Ihiala area of south-east
Nigeria that women owned more cassava fields than men and concluded that cassava is a woman crop.
The strongly
held stigma by many donors agencies and NGO representatives that cassava is a
‘women’s crop’ is an important half-truth. Equally important half-truth to
cassava is also a men’s crop. The COSCA studies have shown that both men and
women produce cassava, men are increasingly involved in cassava production,
processing and marketing as the cassava transformation unfolds in Africa.
POVERTY
ALLEVIATION AND EQUITY:
Cassava has
continually played very vital roles, which include; income for farmers,
low-cost food sources for both rural and urban dwellers as well as house-hold
food security (Nweke, 1996). In Nigeria, cassava is generally believed to be
cultivated by small scaled farmers with low resources (Ezebuiro, et al 2008).
It also plays a major role in the effort to alleviate the food crisis in
Africa.
Cassava can be a
powerful poverty fighter in Africa. The cash income from cassava proves more
egalitarian than the other major staples because of cassava’s low cash input
cost (Nweke, 2004).
TRENDS IN
CASSAVA PRODUCTION:
In 1982, Nigeria
ranked sixth in the world production, with an output of 6.8 million tones
through the cassava multiplication programme (1986-1996). Nigeria production of
cassava increased from 12.4 million tones in 1986 to 33millions tones in 1996,
an increase of more than 30%. This attests to the favourable conditions.
A
significant population of cassava growers in Nigeria has made the transition
from traditional production systems to the use of high- yielding varieties and
mechanization of processing activities (Nweke, et al 2002). According to Berry
(1993), Nigeria and Zaire posses both large and small scale farms on which
cassava is grown by full-time and part-time farmers. In these farming areas, an
average of about 45 percent of cassava field were cultivated for commercial
purpose, but this varied from 0 to 100 percent (Nweke, 1989)
F.A.O.
(2004) provides statistics of Cassava production in three countries, Nigeria,
Cameroon and Togo, for the period 1990 to 2003. The data show that cassava
production witnessed increase in the three countries with Nigeria being clearly
in the lead.
PRODUCTION
CONSTRAINTS
i.
Inadequate use of improved varieties of planting
materials.
ii.
Impure planting material made up of mixed varieties,
which may not be suitable for the different requirements.
iii.
Poor farm management and husbanding practices
especially inappropriate plant population and very limited fertilizer use.
iv.
High cost of agro-inputs.
v.
Lack of credit for cassava farmers.
vi.
High cost of labour for all production process.
vii.
Inadequate support for research extension and building
capacity.
viii.
High-pressure on land leading to cultivation of cassava
on depleted soils.
ASSESSMENTS
OF PRESIDENTIAL INITIATIVE ON CASSAVA
It was to
mobilize Nigerians, to fully and profitably tap the potentials of cassava,
which hitherto had remained largely in harnessed. The initiative was also
designed to encourage foreign earnings, through the export of cassava end product
such as; cassava pellets, cassava chips and cassava starch.
EXTENSION
DELIVERY SYSTEM TO FARMER:
Asadu, et al
(1997), the United Agricultural Extensions System (UAES) which ensures a single
line of command in the dissemination of technologies to the farmers has not
been fully implemented for logistics reason, especially with the cessation of
work of the donor funds that were used for the take-off of this policy
instrument.
MARKETING CASSAVA:
It suffers from
high seasonal price fluctuation for cassava products, uneven product quality,
the absence of a national market information system, the lack of established
grades and standard specifications for most cassava products, as well as poor
linkages between producers, processors, traders and consumers.
2.35
MARKET
STRUCTURE OF CASSAVA:
It is possible
to broadly distinguish two market i.e. the traditional food oriented market and
the new emerging market for industrially processed cassava.
Lemchi,
(1999) gives a very comprehensive description of the traditional markets in
Nigeria, cassava is usually traded in some processed form generally garri other
relevant processed cassava foods in the traditional (food) market include fufu,
lafun and abacha (Onabalu, 2001).
PROBLEMS
ASSOCIATED WITH AGRICULTURAL MARKETING IN NIGERIA:
Agricultural marketing efficiency
has been bedeviled by both external and internal market related factors (ECA,
1970, Adekanye 1977). These factors are also peculiar to cassava marketing
Nigeria (FMARD 2004). The markets may have served the economy well in the past
but currently inadequate in the face of growing demand for products due to
population growth and changing demand patterns. The inadequate of transport
services in rural Nigeria is palpable. Rural feeder roads are either absent or in
very poor conditions.
i.
Poor market information system.
ii.
Limited purchasing power of consumers.
iii.
Increasing costs of marketing functions, irregular
power supply which push the firm to source of alternative (generator) and this
increase transaction cost.
iv.
Stiff competition between the firms in terms of
location, quality of food and prices.
v.
Low market demand of value added produce by the
consumer.
DEMAND ESTIMATES OF CASSAVA SUPPLY IN NIGERIA:
The tolerance of
cassava to extreme stress condition, its low production resources requirements,
its biological efficiency in the production of food energy, will make cassava
products gain more popularity in Nigeria (Kormawa, et al, 2003). Sequel to this
consumers via, Eggleston, et al (1993) submitted that cassava will have better
yields and quality improved varieties, cultural practices and processing
technology for a given level of income, the quality of commodity consumed
becomes a function of its price (Bouse, 1994). Generally, the demand for a
commodity depends not only on its price and the consumer’s income but also on
the price of all other commodities (Adegeye et al 1985).
RELATED
INFORMATION