Mr Oskar Ayeleso, the Executive Director of Agbeyewa Farms Limited, decried the excluding of cassava from the list of major cash crops in Nigeria for international promotion by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID)
Ayeleso expressed his dismay during a chat with Daily Trust in Ibadan at the ongoing Odu’a International Trade Fair at the Oyo State Trade Fair complex EXPOYO, Sango, Ibadan.
Ayeleso said it was unfortunate that USAID does not acknowledge cassava as one of the main products to be promoted, stressing that cassava is one of the cash crops that has the potential to grow the country’s economy.
He said: “We went for a programme in Abuja to meet the USAID at the US embassy recently; what they have on their table as products they are promoting are maize, millet, rice and one other product. Cassava was not there. I was very astonished.
“However, they saw the reason when we [presented] to them on(sic) the need to adopt cassava as one of the products they should be promoting. Very soon, we will begin to see cassava on the list of USAID through our efforts,” he concluded.
