Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has commended the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Ibadan??for successfully leading efforts in developing pro-Vitamin A cassava varieties.
Obasanjo gave the commendation on Thursday in Abeokuta??during a meeting with the IITA Director General, Dr Nteranya Sanginga.
The pro-Vitamin A cassava varieties, ?which are the first ever bio-fortified crops in Nigeria, ?were developed by IITA with funding from HarvestPlus, an international organisation.
?The News Agency of ?Nigeria(NAN) reports that the National Root Crops Research Institute was a local partner in the initiative.
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“ ?The effort put in the development of these varieties is commendable.
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“The varieties will offer consumers more nutritious food recipes especially garri-a form of processed cassava that is grated and roasted into granules.
“This means that the garri being produced from these varieties will have a higher shelf life,”??Obasanjo, ?who is also IITA’s Ambassador for Africa, said.
The former president stressed that the yellow-root cassava varieties would help in tackling vitamin- A deficiency and also make cassava products such as gari more nutritious.
A release issued by??IITA’s??Communications Officer, Mr Godwin Atser, ?stated that Vitamin- A deficiency afflicts about 20 percent of pregnant women and 30 percent of children under five in Nigeria.
Most of those afflicted, the release said, live in rural areas where poverty is relatively higher.???
Apart from offering more access to Vitamin- A, it said the improved varieties would ?reduce the cost of producing cassava recipes such as garri by eliminating the use of palm oil which hitherto had ?been used by farmers to attain the yellowish colour.
Sanginga,? according to the release, said the development of the varieties was a major breakthrough that would change the nutritional status of people living on cassava-based food.
He also noted that plans by the Nigerian government to include cassava in bread would get a boost with the inclusion of? more nutritious varieties.
“But these efforts require the support of all stakeholders,” he added.
Released by the Nigerian National Varietal Release Committee, the Vitamin A cassava varieties were ?named UMUCASS 36, UMUCASS 37 and UMUCASS 38.
?They were also recognised as IITA genotypes TMS 01/1368, TMS 01/1412 and TMS 01/1371 respectively.
Farmers, who participated in the trials of the varieties across the country, were said to love the varieties for their high-yielding ability and resistance to major diseases and pests. (NAN)