ASSESSMENT of THE ECONOMIC PROBLEMS AFFECTING CASSAVA PRODUCTION IN ITU LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA

ASSESSMENT of THE ECONOMIC PROBLEMS AFFECTING CASSAVA PRODUCTION IN ITU LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA

Background of the study

Cassava is one of the world's most important staple food crops, supplying a significant source of glucose to people who consume it. Since independence, Nigeria has enacted several development-oriented programmes, particularly in the agricultural sector. The Federal Government has implemented institutional and policy changes aimed at boosting smallholder farmers' socioeconomic position. These include the Rivers State Government's Agricultural Credit Guarantee Scheme Fund (ACGSF), River Basin Development Authorities (RBDAs), Agricultural Development Programmes (ADP), Cassava Multiplication Programme (CMP), and School to Land Programme. Many areas of agricultural production, such as cultivation, marketing, and processing, were addressed in available reports (IRBI, 2019). The CMP includes the Root and Tuber Expansion Programme (RTEP). According to Nnanna (2015), RTEP is a farmer-oriented programme whose beneficiaries are poor households and smallholder farmers, but the overall goal of RTEP is to improve rural households' food security and income for poor farmers within Nigeria's cassava belt, which includes the Southern and Middle Belt States (Onyeneke, 2018). Cassava is a major source of dietary carbohydrate and feeds approximately 60 million Nigerians (Abdulahi, 2016). Cassava's adaptability to relatively marginal soils, erratic rainfall, high productivity per unit of land and labour, the certainty of obtaining some yield even under the most adverse conditions, and the possibility of maintaining supply continuity throughout the year (Nweke 2017) make this root crop a basic component of the farming system in many areas of Nigeria, including Rivers State. Famine is uncommon in locations where cassava is abundantly planted because it offers a consistent food foundation for the food production system. Aside from its usage as a staple meal for humans, additional applications include animal feed formulation, agro-industrial uses (e.g. starch, ethanol, glue, fructose/glucose syrup), and the peels in the creation of organo-mineral fertilisers. Cassava has become the "miracle crop" in Nigeria as a consequence of a Presidential push on cassava a few years ago, with high export potential.

Itu farmers rely on agriculture for a living, and cassava farming is their specialty. Cassava originated in Brazil, and the Portuguese carried it to tropical West Africa in the 16th and 17th centuries (Woyengi – Ina 1969). Cassava production is as old as the village itself in Itu Local Government Area. Sweet cassava (Manihot Ultilisima) is a Euphobieace species that originated in South Africa and is now grown in all warm parts of the world (IR VINE 1969). Cassava was unknown in the wild, and its emergence as a species is directly tied to human selection under cultivation. Colonial administrations such as Java and the British developed famine reserves in West Africa and Southern India, as well as cassava processing export factories in Makker (Hinton, 1988). Due to the longer maturation time, cassava planting is restricted to the tropics and subtropics.

This root crop is only second to yam in Itu. This significance may be traced back to the colonial period, when cassava was frequently used as a famine reserve crop. Even now, some farm holdings in cassava production support this viewpoint. Cassava, on the other hand, is now a commercial product that is frequently interplanted with other crops. Hardwood stem cuttings, typically 30mm long, are planted on moulds, ridges, or the flat substrate. Manuring the soil boosts production, but early weeding is essential as well. Cassava is consumed in a variety of forms, including garri, fufu, tapioca, flour, boiled or roasted, and can be devoured or cooked by pigs and other herbivores. The leaves are consumed as a vegetable.

In Itu, Akwa Ibom State in general, there is substantial trading in garri, and cassava is widely farmed as a cash crop with a future market. The expansion of cassava output will need the improvement of the crop's market. Finance is one of the issues that Itu farmers face since most cassava growers lack the funds to acquire planting materials and pay labour to assist their agricultural operations. Farmers took advantage of government handouts on occasion.

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