Nigeria Imports 350m Litres of Ethanol Yearly as Experts Suggest Solutions
(The Guardian) Produces about six per cent of national need; Cassava can fill the gap with good policies
Despite the abundance of cassava roots as essential raw materials for production of ethanol and the government’s import substitution policies, Nigeria produces about six percent of the national need and imports between 300 million and 350 million litres of the product yearly.
This incapacitates the local industry players, prevents the entry of new ones and exports jobs and wealth opportunities to other countries in Europe and America by sustaining their factories.These were the submissions of Mr Rajavelu Rajasekar, a director of Allied-Atlantic Distilleries, near Agbara, Ogun State, in an interview with The Guardian.
Speaking on the potential of the country to produce ethanol and stop importation, Rajasekar said existing factories producing ethanol do not have a problem selling their products, and that more giant investors are needed to close the demand gap, but unfavourable policies give undue advantages to importers, creating an unhealthy competition with the local industries.
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He also urged the Federal Government to increase the tariff on imported ethanol and other agricultural products to increase home productivity, adding that “This will bring more factories up in the industry.”
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However, Professor Kolawole Adebayo, a cassava value chain specialist, said increasing the tariff is not necessarily the solution to importation of the product because that would amount to putting the cart before the horse. “If you impose higher tariffs, it will become double jeopardies for the industries. However, coming of other industrial processors will make prices of cassava roots to stabilise because farmers would have ready markets and these fluctuations in prices would reduce. “To make this happen, we need to fix rural roads, power generation, transmission and distribution. I agree that we can produce more locally,” he concurred. READ MORE
