Allied Atlantic Distilleries Limited (AADL), Africa’s
biggest maker of ethanol from cassava, says improved varieties and best-bet
agronomic practices in the production of cassava, which it obtained from the
International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) and passed on to farmers
have almost doubled the yield of the root crop, making it possible for farmers
to supply more of this raw material to the industry than earlier expected.
Commissioned on 30 January (Thursday) in Lasada, Igbese
community in Ogun State, the ethanol factory will produce 9 million liters per
annum of extra neutral alcohol, requiring approximately 250 tons of cassava per
day.
Already over 8,000 farmers located within 70-km radius of
Igbesa covering Ogun and Oyo states, southwest Nigeria, have been engaged and
the factory is providing more than 40,000 indirect jobs to people in the area,
Mr Ola Rosiji, Chairman of AADL said.
“With the support of
IITA, our farmers have doubled their yields from an average 12 t/ha to 22 t/ha;
our farmers now earn double what they would have earned,” he added.
Commending the board and management of the company, Dr
Kenton Dashiell, IITA Deputy Director General, Partnerships & Capacity
Development, representing Director General Nteranya Sanginga, said the
inauguration of the factory was indeed a good opportunity for Africa, and
especially cassava growers, who now have more markets for their produce.
He said that the
factory would create jobs, attract foreign investment, and create wealth for
the people, adding that IITA is willing to partner with the private sector to
lift 11 million people out of poverty and also reclaim and put into sustainable
use 7.5 million hectares of degraded land.
Collaboration
between IITA and AADL, a subsidiary of the Lexcel Group, began in the early
2000s when the project was conceived and IITA provided inputs to the
feasibility study of the investment. Also under the Cassava Transformation
Agenda, which is being coordinated by Dr Richardson Okechukwu, IITA is again
linking farmers to the factory. In addition, the Institute is also providing
training and improved planting materials and technical advisory support to the
firm.
HarvestPlus Country Manager Paul Ilona said the factory
would change the outlook of cassava from the global perspective of “a poor
man’s crop” to an industrial crop.
The Governor of Ogun State, Senator Ibikunle
Amosun commended IITA for the good work it has been doing to improve the lives
of people in Africa.
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