A cassava processing plant has been inaugurated by the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs (MNDA) in Igbotako in Okitipupa, Ondo State.

The plant is part of the Federal Government’s effort at ensuring food security and creating jobs for youths in the Niger Delta region.

According to a statement from the ministry, the Minister of State for Niger Delta, Claudius Daramola, while  inaugurating  the  cassava  processing  plant said  the project was conceived to aid  diversification  of  the  nation’s  economy  from  oil.

“The  project is  to  help  in  providing food  security,  create  jobs  for  the  youths  in  the  Niger  Delta  region,  make  the  youths to  become  employers  of  labour  and  add  value  to  the  agriculture  value  chain,” he said.

According to him, the processing  plant  has  the  capacity  to  produce  1.2 tons  of  high  quality  garri ,  one  ton  of  odourless  fufu,  0.75 ton  of  composite  flour  for  the  bakery    industry  and  0.5 ton  of  high  cassava  starch  per  day.  Daramola assured that  more  processing  plants  would  be constructed in other  cassava  producing  communities  in  the  Niger  Delta  region.

“The  need  to  reduce  wastages  and  add  value  to  cassava  necessitated  the  establishment  of  the  modern   cassava  processing  plants  in  cassava- producing  communities  in  the  Niger  Delta  states,” he said