Nigeria: Bill to include cassava in wheat production passes second reading at Senate

A bill seeking to make it compulsory to include cassava in wheat flour production has passed a second reading at the Senate. The bill specifically seeks the inclusion of 20 per cent high-quality cassava flour in wheat flour by producers and importers of the product. It was sponsored by Saliu Mustapha (APC, Kwara South Central). The bill was read for the second time and referred to the Senate Committee on Agriculture for further legislative action. Mr Mustapha, while leading a debate on the general principles of the bill, stressed the need to use cassava as part of the recipe for wheat flour production in order to reduce the cost of importation of wheat, which presently stands at over $3 billion per annum. He said the continuous importation of wheat has impacted the Nigerian economy negatively by causing trade imbalance, loss of foreign exchange and food dependency. The senator noted that if the bill was passed into law, it would stimulate job creation in the agriculture sector and ...