Turn cassava, cocoa to global products – Expert

Politics Spice Special Features Education Sex & Relationship Interview Columns Opinion Advertise with us Turn cassava, cocoa to global products – Expert South News October 15, 2026 12:09 am Rose-Margaret Ekeng-Itua.

A United States-based professor of Engineering, Rose-Margaret Ekeng-Itua, has urged the Cross River State Government to turn its rich agricultural endowments such as cassava, cocoa and oil palm into global industrial products.

The university don, who is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of the African Technology and Innovation Institute, spoke on Tuesday in Calabar about bridging the skills gap in smart and additive manufacturing in Nigeria.

She said the state has the potential to become a global hub for cassava flour, edible plastics, chocolate and renewable energy if it invests in smart manufacturing.

She said, “Cross River State is well-endowed with rich agricultural produce. It is time we become a global manufacturer of our produce. The world is now looking for cassava because of gluten intolerance associated with wheat. So why can’t Cross River manufacture cassava flour and other by-products? Therefore, Cross River State Government should turn its rich agricultural endowments like cassava, cocoa and oil palm into global industrial products.”

Prof. Ekeng-Itua lamented that Cross River, despite being endowed with abundant agricultural produce and natural resources, has remained at the bottom of the value chain by exporting raw materials without value addition.

“We, in my lab, have used cassava flour to manufacture plastics, edible plastics. We don’t need more plastics that harm the environment. We have cassava that we can use to manufacture plastics that are useful,” she said.

On cocoa, the professor noted that the state exports the raw commodity only to import chocolate and other products at exorbitant prices.

“We have rich cocoa, but we send it off and buy chocolate at a thousand times more than the value we sold our cocoa,” she said.

She also cited oil palm as another strategic area to boost the state economy, saying every part of the palm tree could be utilised for cosmetics, food and beverage and renewable energy, including using palm fruit chaff as a source of biodegradable energy.

Ekeng-Itua stressed the need for collaboration among government, industry and academia to build a manufacturing ecosystem, adding that her organisation, African Technology and Innovation Institute, was established to bridge that gap.

Ekeng-Itua, being the first black woman globally to earn a PhD in Cybernetics, said Nigeria must prepare its youth for over 260 million digital jobs projected to be created in Sub-Saharan Africa by 2030, as forecast by the African Development Bank and the International Finance Corporation.

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