The Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission has disclosed that the Federal Government’s investment of N15.4 billion in cassava will yield N105 billion in revenue over the next five years.
The announcement was made in a statement released on Saturday by the ICRC and accessed by The Punch.
The statement indicates that the Cassava Bio-ethanol Value Chain will produce N105 billion in total revenue over the next five years of concession.
It read, “The Cassava Bio-Ethanol Value Chain will be done on a pilot phase with the aim of building a Bio-technology Industrial Park on a 20-hectare plot across 20 Universities, Academia and Research and Development Institutes. In the pilot phase, 5,000 special hybrid cassava (TME 419) stems will be planted per hectare, (100,000 stems for 20 hectares).
“It is projected that Cassava production will double from the current 62 million tons to output of over 120 million tons with improved tropical agro-ecology, bio-technology, intense mechanisation and effective partnership resource mobilisation in five years.”
“The key goal of this cassava – Bioethanol pilot project is to demonstrate the efficacy of a private sector led approach in promoting investment in renewable biomass and create wealth, provide jobs, reduce poverty, improve food security and nutrition, provide renewable energy and reduce carbon footprint” the ICRC stated.
The project will receive funding from both the federal government grant and investment from the concessionaire, amounting to N11.9 billion.
In addition to the above, the project will generate income from the sale of cassava stem, cassava flour, garri, starch, and Bio-ethanol, according to the revenue stream presented by the project.
