Johnson Ebokpo, Cross River Commissioner for Agriculture and Irrigation Development, says the newly established eight-metric-tonnes cassava processing mill in the Idoma community will create 1,000 direct jobs.
Ebokpo spoke about this while inaugurating the plant on Thursday in Idoma, Biase Local Government Area of the state. He highlighted the project’s role in community development, adding that the government planned to replicate the model across other local government areas.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the initiative, which is part of the Livelihood Improvement Family Enterprise for Niger Delta (LIFE-ND) project, also includes a 1.3km farm road, a mini-bridge, and 15 hectares of cultivated cassava farmland.
Ebokpo said that the project was an integrated approach to community development because development would not end with the production of food. According to him, the community requires road access, flood control, and the ability to add value.
“With these facilities, the community will be kept busy all year round; because as the cluster produces cassava, another group of incubates, who were trained to process, will continue from there,” he said.
On his part, Dr Abiodun Sanni, the National Project Coordinator, said that the project aimed to curb youth restiveness and empower women through integrated agricultural infrastructure.
“There is a major link here, the 1.3 kilometers access earth farm road leads to the mini Bridge, which in turn connects to the eight-metric tonnes cassava processing mill and the 15 hectares cassava plantation for incubators of the project,” Sanni said.
The Paramount Ruler of Idoma, Chief Steve Omori, commended the establishment of the project. Omori narrated how the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) built classroom blocks in the community, which ended their children’s journey to other communities to write the West African Senior School Certificate Examination.
He promised to protect the new cassava mill as the community protected the classroom blocks constructed by IFAD for the community in 2010. One of the beneficiaries of the project, Ms. Comfort Anthony, expressed gratitude, noting significant improvements in their livelihoods due to the training and resources provided.
NAN also reports that the LIFE-ND project in Idoma has trained 59 participants, with 15 receiving farmlands for cassava cultivation, using high-yield, disease-resistant TME 419 cassava stems.
