Nigeria ranked world’s #1 producer of cassava and yam
Umuahia—NIGERIA is now ranked the world’s highest producer of cassava, yam, and cocoyam with a production capacity of 40 million metric tonnes, 30 million metric tonnes, and 4 million metric tonnes, respectively.
The Executive Director of National Roots Crops Research Institute (NRCRI), Umudike, Abia State, Dr. Kenneth Nwosu who disclosed this also announced that his institute has developed and released over 27 cassava varieties, which he said has 35% potential higher yields than the local bests.
Nwosu said that five of the new varieties were recently developed to “checkmate the insurgence of the dreaded African cassava mosaic virus disease”.
Nwosu who spoke while addressing the 17th Annual conference of Nigerian Rural Sociological Association, further announced that the institute has been mobilized by the Federal Government “for the training of various rural women groups in the entire Niger Delta states”.
“This institute, in collaboration with IITA Ibadan, has developed and released a total of seven hybrid yams that are resistant to major pests and diseases and have potential of doubling the yields of most existing landscapes.
This breakthrough is the first of its kind globally”, Nwosu noted.
Source: Vanguard
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