IITA TECHNOLOGIES ARE HELPING FARMERS TO DOUBLE YIELDS…. SAYS AADL
The Allied Atlantic Distilleries Limited (AADL), Africa’s biggest maker of ethanol from cassava, says improved varieties and best-bet agronomic practices in the production of cassava, which it obtained from the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) and passed on to farmers have almost doubled the yield of the root crop, making it possible for farmers to supply more of this raw material to the industry than earlier expected. Commissioned on 30 January (Thursday) in Lasada, Igbese community in Ogun State, the ethanol factory will produce 9 million liters per annum of extra neutral alcohol, requiring approximately 250 tons of cassava per day. Already over 8,000 farmers located within 70-km radius of Igbesa covering Ogun and Oyo states, southwest Nigeria, have been engaged and the factory is providing more than 40,000 indirect jobs to people in the area, Mr Ola Rosiji, Chairman of AADL said. “With the support of IITA, our farmers have doubled their yields fro...