Manufacturing Strategies for the Cassava Industry in Nigeria
CHAPTER ONE
PURPOSE OF THE STUDY
The purpose of this study is to help accelerate the development of the cassava industry by formulating a manufacturing strategy that can be used to guide and manage its production functions, realize its abundant potentials and spur rural industrialization in the country.
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
THE CASSAVA INDUSTRY: PRODUCTS, PROCESSES ANDMACHINES
The Cassava industry utilizes its manufacturing functions to process cassava into various products and thus, offer good opportunities for adding value to cassava. Eggleston, Bokanga and Jeon8 asserted that manufactured cassava products offer such benefits as reduction in high post harvest losses, increases labor efficiency, productivity and income. It also improves the hygienic quality of cassava products, enhances cassava product’s shelf life and facilitates their transportation and marketing. Nutritional values could also be improved during processing by addition of food composites or by fortification.
In the industrial processing of most cassava products, some mechanical processes are usually applied (see figure 2.1). These include peeling, washing, grating, fermenting, squeezing, sieving, drying, heating/cooking, sedimenting etc. These processes are applied using small equipment and machines, such as dryers, expellers, millers, sifters, prime movers and so on. The choice of process is based on factors like locality, quality product, product demand and level of known processing techniques. Consideration is also given to the scale of production; family consumption (small scale) or for export (medium to large scale). Consequently, popularly processed cassava products include:-
Cassava flour Alcoholic Beverages Cassava chips Animal feeds Cassava starch Garri/fufu etc Pellets
Industrial Ethanol Glucose syrup Monosodium Glutamate
Dextrose Glue
Dried Yeast
Cassava stalk particle board
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CHAPTER THREE
METHODOLOGY AND STRATEGIC ANALYSIS
METHODOLOGY
The methodology for this study is derived from the strategy formulation model advocated by Johnson and Scholes14, which segments strategy making process into three interacting elements of (1) Strategic analysis, (2) Strategic choice and (3) Strategic implementation, as shown in figure 3.1
This model is chosen because of its convenience, popularity and application by many authors, for example (Des and Miller) and (Rowe, Mason, Dickel, Man and Mockler)22, and so has been met in much of the literatures used for this study. Another reason for adopting this model is that it allows the manufacturing strategy formulation process to be organized systematically without loosing sight of the interactive nature of the strategic elements.
CHAPTER FOUR
SELECTION OF MANUFACTURING STRATEGIES
The SWOT matrix technique used in selecting manufacturing strategies from generic strategies is shown in table 4.1. It provides a good framework for identifying strategic relationships, which in turn becomes the basis for strategic choice and selection. For proper analyse and identification strategies, a “+” sign is used to indicate a match between the factors while an “O” indicates a weak or none existent relationship. Each of the four indicated strategic segments (SO, ST, WO, and WT) in table 4.1, have been carefully analyzed in detail and evaluated independently in appendix III. The explanations that follow below for each strategic segments and the resulting strategies presented in table 4.2 are based on the detailed analysis carried out in appendix III.
CHAPTER FIVE
RESULT, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
RESULT
Based on the analysis carried out in appendix III and the resulting strategies listed in the four strategic segments of table 4.2, this study has sucessfully formulated manufacturing strategies for the cassava industry in Nigeria using the SWOT matrix technique. These strategies as collated from table 4.2 and rearranged logically in table5.1 make up a strategy set for the implementation process and constitute the result of this study. These twelve strategies if properly implemented will enable the manufacturing functions of the cassava industry to achieve its objectives and by implication transform the industry into a viable sector in the nation.
RECOMMENDATIONS
The need for improved modern cassava manufacturing technologies and machineries has been a recurrent issue throughout the study. For example, the tedious but necessary process of peeling cassava is yet to be mechanised. It is therefore recommended that Nigerian Engineers should take up this challenge and come up with indigenous, efficient and affordable technologies that will enable the cassava industry compete favourably with their foreign counterparts in this regard.
Poor funding and loan facilities for the cassava industries form the basis for strategy number five of the formulated strategies. This further highlights the important role of the financial institutions to manufacturing. As a way out of this problem, it is recommended that banks should not be content with reading through proposals and requesting for unavailable collaterals before giving out loans, but must ensure that the money is used for what it was intended for by paying directly to equipment manufacturers. Such purchased equipments in addition to the land on which the industry is built could be used as security by the banks. In other words, rather than scaring away cassava industrialists who have nothing but land, ideas and feasibility report to present to the banks, close monitoring of the industries should be carried out by the banks at different stages. It is the conviction from this study that if banks review their lending policy along the lines proposed, they would assist greatly in developing the manufacturing functions of the cassava industries in Nigeria.
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