Advanced BioFuels USA

by Femi Ibirogba (The Guardian)  … Mr Rajavelu Rajasekar is a Director (Agro), Allied-Atlantic Distilleries, Agbara, Ogun State, where 250 metric tonnes of raw cassava roots are processed into ethanol. He revealed, in this interview with Head, Agro-Economy Desk, FEMI IBIROGBA, why cassava production fluctuates between scarcity and gluts; why more processors fail to invest in the sector and why Nigeria is still a net importer of ethanol despite the potential to export such.

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There are possibilities of glut and scarcity in Nigeria. Every two or three years, Nigeria experiences gluts because when the price goes up, all the farmers jump into its production.

When every farmer produces cassava, ultimately it leads to overproduction. So, what happens this year is a glut. Two years ago, cassava was close to N40,000 per tonne. Having realised the farmers were selling roots for N40,000 per tonne, everyone jumped into its production, leading to excessive supply over demand. The effect of this is a lower price of N15,000 to N20,000 per tonne.

It is still not bad. However, farmers are always anticipating the highest price every year. That is the problem. The price of N15,000 to N20,000 per tonne is acceptable to processors to get adequate profit, but the anticipation of N40,000 every year by the farmers is difficult.However, if ethanol and starch-producing firms increase in number, the demand will be constant, but we have few industrial processors of cassava now.

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When the rainfalls start, the starch level of cassava roots goes down. Between April and June specifically, the starch level of cassava goes down to less than 20 per cent, precisely to 17 or 18 per cent. But the more the starch, the more the productivity whether it is ethanol, starch or any end product. What we basically need is starch.

So, whenever it comes to the rainy period in Nigeria, production of new leaves makes the starch and by extension the price to go down.

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Cassava is a root crop and you have to uproot it. Doing that is normally difficult in dry season. Because of the moisture, it is easy for them to uproot the crop in rainy seasons.

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Also, when the cassava stabilises for the rainy season after about six to eight weeks, it builds the starch level up again. 

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So, what we advise farmers to do is to plant better varieties of cassava. If they plant varieties with 25 per cent starch content, it will not reduce more than 20 or 21 per cent. This is still acceptable, with a better price.

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Cassava is a basic raw material for a lot of industries, starting from ethanol, starch, high quality cassava flour, and other products. So, if the starch is not up to 20 per cent, there are other end users. Another ethanol company is producing 1 million litres yearly, apart from ours. They are taking cassava in Kogi State. There is another starch company in Iseyin, Oyo State. And there are end users who are using the cassava starch. So, there are a lot of ways cassava can be used industrially.

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We do not have a problem with the market because Nigeria is a net importer of ethanol even till now. The first ethanol company is ours, and there is another one now. We produce 9 million litres, whereas, the import is between 300 and 350 million litres in a year.

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However, because of importation of ethanol from Britain and other countries in Europe, which are made from sugarcane and corns, sometimes, imported ethanol is cheaper than locally produced one from cassava. Sometimes, the users go back to importation. So, there is always imbalance and we often fight with the importers.  READ MORE