The Minister of Agriculture, Dr. J. Alexander Nuetah, toured the European Union-funded cassava breeder seed garden or multiplication site established at the Central Agriculture Research Institute (CARI) recently.

The purpose of the visit was to assess the level of work being carried out to multiply planting materials for distribution to smallholder cassava farmers.

The seed garden covers 13.5 hectares of seven different varieties imported from Nigeria by IITA.

With funding from the EU through the Seed 4 Liberia Project, IITA, in collaboration with CARI, has established the garden to ensure the availability of improved, high-yielding cassava planting materials.

Agriculture Minister, Dr. Nuetah, upon touring the site, told journalists that the level of work done by IITA and CARI at the site was impressive.

"I am very much impressed about the first step taken to multiply the planting materials. The variety has more starch content and the other with Vitamin E that farmers can grow and sell to earn more money," he said.

He said that the Ministry expects to see the cassava cuttings being distributed to farmers as soon as possible.

"We expect to get the cassava cuttings to the farmers very soon to get them to plant," he said.

The minister said to ensure a stable cassava market and to generate revenues, the government has brought into the country an investor who is setting up an industrial cassava processing facility in Margibi County.

"The facility, when completed, will create market opportunities for our smallholder cassava farmers," he stated.

Nuetah said his Ministry is working with farmers by establishing production units in cassava-producing counties to supply the facility.

"We're ensuring the provision of mechanized equipment for these production units to allow the farmers to expand production," he added.

With the establishment of the cassava breeder seed garden and the government's plan to bring an investor to construct the industrial processing center, cassava production is expected to increase in the country and to develop the lives of more producers.