12th November, 2012
Foluso Olaniyan, Managing Director/Chief Executive, UTC Nigeria, leading baker and processor of meat products, explains why the company embraced the Cassava Bread initiative of the federal government. She spoke with reporters recently, and TOKUNBO OLAJIDE was there.
You’ve been producing the Starloaf brand of cassava bread. What made you buy into the federal government Cassava Bread initiative?
In 2011, when we concluded our production and equipment strategy and plan at the end of the third quarter, we were not aware of the cassava bread issue. We were intimated of it on 23 December 2011, at a meeting called by the Minister of Agriculture, where four corporate bakers were brought to start the inclusion of cassava flour in bread this year. As a patriotic company, we went to work immediately after the Christmas holiday, despite the 10-day nationwide strike. And within eight weeks, we had run 92 trials and were able to achieve a sustainable cassava bread recipe with 20 per cent HQCF (high quality cassava flour) inclusion. This was done at that time with no zero support from an external body. Based on our own promptings and breakthroughs, other corporate bakers followed suit.
In addition to bread, we started the cassava inclusion in our mass market range of snacks, namely UTC Chopsy beef roll and UTC marble cakes. These are long-life products with close to two weeks shelf life. We are the largest consumer of the HQCF in the baking industry because we use it for a range of 12 products, although we have our no-cassava range for those averse to cassava taste. Because we respect human rights, we give our consumers the options of choice. Our cassava range is clearly marked with the cassava logo, while the no-cassava range is devoid of cassava logo.
Have you faced any teething problems with adopting cassava, given this was an entirely unknown terrain you ventured into?
We’ve coped quite well. In the private sector, company budgets, encompassing equipment and production strategy and plan, are always concluded at the end of the third quarter of the year preceding implementation. Despite the 10-day national strike I mentioned earlier, we were able to hit the market the eight week of the year. We branded, sold for cash and followed up with tasting sessions which we opened to the public. We went a step further by allowing bakers, millers, NAFDAC and some international agencies to come in and verify our inclusion claims. They came, inspected, verified and left pleased and satisfied.
What are your further plans for cassava bread?
It gladdens us that our products have been tasted and commended by presidents and heads of governments of some countries who visited President Jonathan Goodluck. We will continuously improve on quality and delivery standards. We are also looking at exporting them to neighbouring African countries to support government’s advocacy of cassava usage as raw materials for bread and other food products.
The new, improved ones have been made to international standards: kiddies’ loaf with tamper-proof packaging; batch numbers for traceability; ‘best before’ dates to protect consumers and instil consumers’ confidence; barcode for scanning purposes in retail outlets and increased cassava flour inclusion to reduce the intake of gluten by gluten-intolerant consumers and to address concerns expressed on glycaemic index of wheat flour by health-conscious consumers.
Were you compelled by the authorities to do all these?
All these are mandatory standards for international products. We are crafting the Starloaf as an international product as we hope to start exporting to other African countries by Christmas, beginning with West Africa. We want to make this year’s Christmas a cassava-filled Christmas for African nations. We are spreading the cassava tidings across Africa. As we speak, we have appointed agents for the products in Cotonou and Accra. We are just waiting to finetune our Memorandum of Understanding and all necessary paperworks before we commence delivery.
How optimistic are you about exporting cassava bread when the cassava bread campaign seems to have appealed to only a few Nigerians?
We, as a private organisation, are interested in giving shareholders values which come with profitability, hence our readiness to embrace consumers who are ready to pay the price, irrespective of where they are as long as it contributes positively to our bottom line. Private companies are created for profits. Cassava-based products create values health-wise and increase productivity as the inclusion of cassava flour reduces production costs. We are sure that with time, Nigerians and foreigners will widely embrace our products.
The federal government has in place an Intervention Fund to support producers of cassava bread. How much has your company received from the fund?
We appreciate the efforts of the Minister of Agriculture in attracting attention to the cassava bread from UTC. We are waiting for support via the Cassava Bread Intervention Fund instituted by the President in June to enable us grow our output of the cassava loaf to significant levels that will impact on Nigerian farmers. If the uptake is high, the drive towards use of the HQCF will follow suit. It is our hope that more corporate bakers will adopt the policy and become more creative.