NEPAD Wednesday challenged Nigerian farmers, marketers and industrialists to take advantage of the vast market potentials of cassava by assisting in the realization of government's policy on the tuber crop. According to the policy, the Nigerian government hopes to realize about five billion dollars annually from increased production of cassava from 2007. Chinyere Asika, Senior Special Assistant to President Olusegun Obasanjo on NEPAD (New Partnership for Africa's Development) threw the challenge at a consultative meeting on NEPAD Pan-African Cassava Initiative in Abuja. Asika, who is also the Chief Executive of NEPAD Nigeria, said the meeting was one of the steps being taken to prepare the Nigerian strategy toward the implementation of PACI. According to her, NEPAD, in its quest for sustainable development, had identified cassava as the "wonder crop", with potential for fighting poverty by generating revenue for the government and income to boost the economic wellbeing of Africans. "NEPAD PACI vision is aimed at increased contribution of cassava as a food security crop and a major industrial raw material for income generation in Africa by 2015," Asika said. --MORE 2307 Local Time 2007 GMT
