Remarks by Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, Honourable Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, at the Graduation Ceremony of the Training of Master Bakers of Ekiti State in Cassava Bread Making by the UTC with Ekiti State Government and Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, 6 August, 2012.

1. MASTER BAKERS ROLL OUT CASSAVA BREAD IN EKITI STATE
Remarks by Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, Honourable Minister of Agriculture and Rural
Development, at the Graduation Ceremony of the Training of Master Bakers of Ekiti State in
Cassava Bread Making by the UTC with Ekiti State Government and Federal Ministry of
Agriculture and Rural Development, 6 August, 2012.
Your Excellency, the Executive Governor of Ekiti State, my brother and dear friend, Dr. Kayode
Fayemi. Your Excellency, the Deputy Governor Fumilayo Olayinka, Secretary to the State
Governor, Honourable Commissioners, especially the Honourable Commissioner of Commerce,
Industry and Cooperatives, Otunba Bodunrin, and Honourable Commissioner of Agriculture,
Permanent Secretaries and Local Government Chairmen, Royal Fathers, MD of UTC, Mrs
Olaniyan, our dear Master Bakers, bread Sellers association and cassava growers association, (no
farmers no nation, rich farmers rich nation!!), my Regional Director and State Director and
technical advisors, especially Mrs Toyin Adetunji who is driving our work on cassava bread,
friends, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen.
Today we take another giant stride forward in our quest as a country to free ourselves from the
shackles of food importation. We spend over 10 billion Naira importing basic food items,such as
wheat, rice, fish and sugar every year. The exporting countries love Nigeria, they see us as a
nation that has capacity to feed itself, but chooses to throw its capacity away, to become import
dependent, due to our high taste for foreign foods.
As we import food, we are simply making our economy weaker. We are exporting jobs, instead
of creating jobs at home. We are making the farmers of food exporting countries richer, while our
own farmers are poorer for lack of markets. While the young graduates of food exporting
countries get jobs, Nigerian young graduates roam the streets.
The biggest business in the world is food business. For no man can exist without food. Yes,
Nigeria has oil, but nobody drinks or eats oil. As the economy of Europe and the US continues to
struggle, demand for our oil is dwindling.
Times are different now. While we could afford to lavish our foreign exchange on food imports
before, today we cannot, because we must create jobs at home. Today, we spend 635 billion
Naira importing wheat. Our wheat import is growing at the rate of 13% annually. By 2020 it is
estimated that, at this growth rate, Nigeria's annual

2. wheat imports will hit 17 million MT, or the entire wheat exports of Canada, the 3rd largest
wheat producer in the world. As we do, we will be shattering the hopes of our farmers in Nigeria
who produce crops that can substitute for wheat in bread.
We must encourage domestic substitution for wheat. It is a matter of national security. The US is
experiencing it's worst drought in 100 years. Some 48 states in the US, majority wheat growing
states, are recording very poor wheat crop. The price of wheat will rise by 50%. This means that
Nigeria is importing inflation and that makes our economy vulnerable. But cassava is drought
tolerant, so it can better secure our food supply than wheat.
This is why Mr President Dr Goodluck Ebele Jonathan took a bold step to diversify the economy
through the Agricultural Transformation Agenda, with the goal of adding 20 million MT of food
to the domestic food supply by 2015. At the center of our plan is to reduce the import of wheat by
40%.
Yes, traditionally, bread is made from wheat. But when God said man shall not live by bread
alone, he was not referring to wheat bread, because bread can be made from other foods apart
from wheat. We have demonstrated in Nigeria that cassava flour is a very good and healthier
substitute for wheat flour in bread making.
Let me address the issue of health and cassava flour. Cassava bread is good for you. The
statements made by supporters of wheat flour that cassava consumption is not good for those with
diabetes is wholesomely untrue, scientifically baseless and is a deliberate attempt to misinform
Nigerians.
What the supporters of wheat flour and wheat importation do not want Nigerians to know is there
is actually a way to measure how quickly sugar is released into the body from consuming any
food item. This is called the glycemic index and the higher the level of the glycemic index, the
higher the chances of aggravating diabetes. Cassava flour has much lower glycemic index than
wheat flour. Wheat flour, which is what we are being told to consume, has a higher glycemic
index than cassava flour. So, which one is healthier for you: cassava flour or wheat flour? It is
clear, it is cassava flour.
Now, let me compare the glycemic index of cassava flour to some of the foreign foods that are
being imported into Nigeria.
Let us start with the French bread, popularly called ‘baquette’. The glycemic index for French
bread is 95, which puts it in the very high range for diabetes. Take the foods eaten by the British,
the popular English Muffins have a glycemic index of 77, in the high range for diabetes. Now
take whole wheat flour bread, which you all eat everyday, it has glycemic index of 71, again on
the high side. You all eat corn flakes every day, right? The glycemic index of corn flakes is 82,
which is very high. Only
100% whole wheat bread (that is the one in which the husk and the bran are intact) has a
glycemic index of 51, which is close to that of cassava flour in Nigeria at 59.
(Source: http://www.gilisting .com. Online glycemic index database).

3. It means that cassava flour is healthier than wheat flour, French bread, English Muffins and
cornflakes! The fact is clear: cassava flour is good for your health. By including cassava flour in
bread, we will be improving the health benefit of the
bread we eat, since the lower level of glycemic index in cassava flour will help to reduce the high
level of glycemic index in wheat flour.
UTC, led by its indefatigable Managing Director, Mrs Olaniyan, led the way in commercializing
the inclusion of 20% high quality cassava flour in bread. The cassava bread is 60% cheaper, more
nutritious and healthier than 100% white wheat flour bread.
Cassava bread tastes and stores longer than wheat flour bread. Even the top-level American
Government delegation from the White House, who visited me in my office, ate the cassava
bread and were surprised at the great taste of the cassava bread and it's low level of gluten. The
former Prime Minister of UK, Tony Blair, ate the cassava bread at the Villa and remarked that it
was great bread. The President of Malawi ate the cassava bread and remarked that it was very
good bread, and today Malawi has approached Nigeria to help her produce cassava bread. The
world is noticing. But Nigerians are noticing even more. UTC's cassava bread, pastries, meat
wraps, all from cassava flour, are on the market.
It is not just about cassava bread. We are triggering an industrial revolution based on cassava. As
other countries in Africa want to embrace cassava bread and reduce their imports of wheat,
Nigeria is well positioned to become the leader. We can export cassava flour for bread to other
countries. We are already exporting cassava chips to China, which will earn our farmers and
processors 136 million US dollars.
As cassava bread expands, several of the 156 SMEs producing cassava flour, which had closed
down before when flour mills stopped buying their flour few years ago, are now back in business.
Government is upgrading their facilities so they can produce more cassava flour. Six of those
SMEs for upgrade are in Ekiti State. Their fortunes will soon change.
Ask Thai Farms. At the start of this administration, Thai farms, the largest producer of High
quality cassava flour was within 3 weeks of shutting down. Today, they work 24 hours per day, 6
days a week, to meet rising demand for cassava flour by corporate bakers.
We are also building our industrial capacity to produce enough cassava flour. Government has
also facilitated the access to finance to import 18 large scale high quality cassava flour plants
from China. These plants will produce 1.3 million MT of cassava flour per year. This will make
Nigeria the largest producer of cassava flour in the world. We will have all the cassava flour we
need to further our cassava substitution efforts in bread and confectionaries. Ekiti State has been
allocated one of these large scale cassava plants, with capacity of 240 MT per day. It will be
supported by an outgrower farm network and farmers provided with mechanization, finance and
farm inputs.
To get the cassava bread to the masses, it is critical to support our master bakers. Nigeria has over
400, 000 master bakers. They need access to new equipments. They need access to finance. They
need access to training. This is why Mr President approved the establishment of the Cassava
Bread Development Fund. The fund, which comes from the levy on wheat and wheat flour, will

4. support training of the master bakers in cassava bread production; provide subsidized finance to
allow them to invest in new rotary ovens, chillers and mixers.
Government has also cut the levy on enzymes needed for cassava bread, from 10% to zero
percent and initiated moves to get the enzymes manufactured locally. Two private sector
companies are already working with the manufacturer of the cassava enzyme improvers in South
Africa, and this will create a new industry in Nigeria, which will further create jobs.
I must thank the Coordinating Minister of the Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi
Okonjo-Iweala and the Director General of the Budget Office, Dr. Bright Okogwu, for their
strong support for fiscal policies to accelerate development of the cassava bread and cassava
industry.
We are doing more. The Federal Government is facilitating the importation of 700 compact mills,
which will decentralize private sector milling of wheat and mixing and production of premix
composite cassava flour, to be sold directly to master bakers and households. This will
standardize the production of cassava flour and make it available in every nook and corner of
Nigeria, and reduce the monopoly of the flour milling industry. These compact mills will be sold
to young graduates and entrepreneurs, to create a new class of businesses called 'compact millers'.
The effort we are witnessing today is part of the strategy to get the cassava bread to Ekiti State.
The MD of UTC is from Ekiti State, so this is home coming for her, after all, charity begins at
home. But it begins with your Executive Governor, the dynamic and visionary and passionate
Governor Fayemi. The Governor is the one who made today possible. He made the resources
available to train 150 master bakers. The Master bakers are being provided with the starter packs
for High quality cassava flour, including Enzymes which are provided by the Federal Ministry of
Agriculture and Rural Development.
I understand the training of the master bakers by UTC went extremely well. I heard that the
master bakers even put in their own master touch and produced a bread much better than anyone
expected! I can smell the aroma of the great cassava bread. I can't wait to eat the tasty cassava
bread, home made in Ekiti State,the first state to achieve such a feat!
What we are witnessing in Ekiti State will be replicated across the nation. Plans are underway by
the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to continue to partner with State
governments in the training of master bakers and launching of cassava bread across all the 36
states and Federal Capital Territory. Starter packs will be provided to master bakers in every state
to kick-off the commercialization of the cassava bread by more than 400,000 master bakers
across the country.
Your Excellency, Executive Governor Dr. Fayemi, you are a handsome man. You look good. As
the sweet aroma of Ekiti home baked cassava bread excites you to eat cassava bread, I can
guarantee you that you will look even more handsome! You will look great! Your elegant Deputy
Governor will even be more beautiful! And all the good people of Ekiti State will be healthier,
and the farmers of Ekiti State will be richer!

5. So, let us patronize the products of our farmers. Let us grow what we eat. Let us eat what we
grow. If it is not Nigerian grown and processed in Nigeria, it is not good enough for Nigerians.
For only then will we create massive number of jobs for our youth and strengthen our economy.
I congratulate the Government of Ekiti State for your remarkable efforts to make this day happen.
You worked so hard to bring the master bakers, bread sellers and farmers together. And today we
all see and taste the yummy cassava bread of Ekiti. I congratulate the 150 master bakers that have
received their training on making cassava bread. I congratulate UTC for a wonderful job done.
Let the production of healthy cassava bread begin in Ekiti State! This, after all is the 'land of
Honor'.
I just saw the new slogan JFK (John Kayode Fayemi) 1:1: "from this day forth, thou shall only
eat cassava bread". That is wonderful.
Buy local, eat local, grow the Nigerian economy!