Cassava [MANIHOT ESCULENTA] is a perennial crop grown as an annual that matures between 8 to 12 months of planting. It can be planted all year round. Cassava does well in 24 of the 36 states of Nigeria. Nigeria is the world’s largest producer of cassava with an annual output of 45million metric tons.
Cassava is the basis of multitude of products; including food, flour, animal feed, ethanol, starches for sizing paper and textiles, sideburn, prepared food and bio-degradable product. These products are derived from a number of forms of cassava, ranging from its leaves and roots. With the increasing diverse use of cassava in Nigeria and the world at large, Cassava farming has become so lucrative. This is bound to continue because of the prolific nature of cassava.
The major inputs for commercial cassava farming are; LAND, IMPROVED STEM, TRAINING, FERTILIZER, FINANCE and MARKET
LAND
Cassava does best in a well-drained loamy soil, with adequate rain fall, with a mixture of warm and moist climatic condition. Procuring Land for such commercial farming has to be done by professionals who have the eagle eye to decode the soil texture without much examination. It is also easier to source for land for agriculture through professionals because they have extensive network and can arrange Land for you in short notice and in a cost effective manner. There is little need to purchase land for farming in large scale form the beginning as this will tie down available capital, thus it is advisable to lease and subsequently pay for the land from the proceed of the farm. BUSINESS ADVISORY NETWORK is a guru in this regard and will help you arrange choice farm land at the best rate all you have to do is to talk to us.
TRAINING
We will guide you on best planting season, spacing, fertilizer type, how to source fertilizer, fertilizer application. Weed control, Crops you many intercrop with cassava, the effects of intercropping on cassava yield Storage and processing.
FINANCE
The central bank of Nigeria has a lot of incentives for commercial farmers with a reduced interest rate of 9% per annum. We will guide you on how to source this loan. We will also help in securing farming equipment.
MARKET
Demand for cassava is high both locally and internationally. A farmer may decide to add value and export or sell locally depending on his business plan.
SECURITY
Security of the farm is of utmost importance, thus adequate security must be put in place to eliminate/ reduce pilferage in the farm.
CASSAVA VALUE CHAIN
We will not only guide you on cassava farming. We will introduce you to cassava business value chain depending on your interest. Ethanol, Glue, Glucose syrup and many other things can be produced from cassava. Even through these requires huge investment, the return is enormous and the market potential is also huge.
If you desirous of farming with minimal discomfort and also wants to stay out of other loss that might result due to lack of planning talk to us at BAN