Ifelodun Local Government Area of Kwara State may soon host a major cassava processing factory.
The Executive Chairman of the council, Hadji AbdulRasheed Femi Yusuf, and his top management team yesterday received the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Psaltry International Company Limited, Mrs. Oluyemisi Iranloye, and her management team at the council’s contact office in Jimba Oja.
The visit was about an investment proposal to set up a cassava processing factory in the local government. It is a project that could link thousands of local farmers directly to industrial buyers.
Psaltry International is widely regarded as a major cassava processing company in Nigeria. It has spent almost three decades on agricultural investment, youth empowerment and value-chain development. The company is based in Alayide Village, Ado-Awaye, in Iseyin LGA of Oyo State. It produces high-quality cassava flour, glucose, sorbitol and other cassava-based products.
The company is credited with building Africa’s first cassava-based sorbitol factory, with a capacity of 24 tonnes per day. Sorbitol is a key ingredient in toothpaste and other consumer goods.
Psaltry says it works with more than 5,000 smallholder farmers through an out-grower scheme. Under the scheme, about 50 field officers each support 300 to 400 farmers with tractors, herbicides, improved cassava stems and training. The company then buys back the harvest, recovers the cost of the inputs and pays the farmers their profit.
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Psaltry now wants to expand its cassava sourcing and processing into Kwara State. It chose Ifelodun as a strategic hub because of the council’s vast arable land, its large population of cassava farmers and its peaceful business environment.
Nigeria’s cassava paradox
The proposal comes at a critical time for Nigeria’s cassava sector. Nigeria is the world’s largest producer of the crop. It harvested about 62.7 million tonnes in 2023, roughly a fifth of global output.
Despite this, the country still imports much of the industrial cassava products its factories need. Local demand for high-quality cassava flour is put at about 504,000 metric tonnes a year, but local supply is only about 60,480 tonnes.
Nigeria also imports more than 95 per cent of the industrial starch it uses. National demand for ethanol reached 400 million litres in 2024, and about three-quarters of it came from abroad.
The main problem is weak processing capacity. Farmers across the country have reported that cassava prices crashed by more than 80 per cent this year.
A truckload that once sold for ₦180,000 to ₦200,000 now goes for ₦40,000 to ₦50,000, and some farmers have left mature crops unharvested. Experts describe this as a “broken bridge between the farm and the factory.” Nigeria, they say, does not have a production problem.
It lacks enough processors close to the farms that can turn tubers into starch, flour, glucose and ethanol to industry standards.
Mrs. Iranloye herself has long argued that cassava processing only makes sense when factories sit close to farmers. The idea came from seeing a farmer’s entire harvest rot after he was stranded on the road for five days.
Benefits for Ifelodun
Stakeholders say a factory in Ifelodun could bring several benefits including a guaranteed market for farmers, large processor next door would give local cassava growers a steady, year-round buyer and cut losses from spoilage and high haulage costs.
Out-grower support to farmers in form of tractors, improved stems, agro-chemicals and training through Psaltry’s out-grower model, which would raise their yields and incomes.
Prospects of new jobs and youth empowerment, the plant, its logistics and its farm networks would create direct and indirect jobs for young people and women.
A stronger local economy with more money in circulation, new businesses in transport, input supply and services, and more revenue for the council.
Industrial growth to move Ifelodun from subsistence farming towards value-added agro-processing and more local supply of starch, flour and sweeteners that Nigeria currently imports with scarce foreign exchange.
Partnership for take-off
The meeting focused on areas of collaboration, including agricultural development, infrastructure support and out-grower farmer empowerment, so that the proposed factory can start smoothly and run sustainably.
Mrs. Iranloye presented the investment blueprint and expressed confidence in Ifelodun’s potential. She praised the Chairman’s developmental drive and his openness to private sector investment.
Hadji Femi Yusuf thanked the team for choosing Ifelodun for such a landmark investment. He assured them of the council’s robust support, an enabling environment and a strong working relationship to make sure the proposal comes to fruition.
He said the project fits well with his administration’s agenda of creating jobs, boosting the local economy and turning Ifelodun into an agro-industrial hub.
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