Nigeria is taking urgent steps to reduce the approximately $23 million spent annually on imported pharmaceutical-grade starch by encouraging local cassava processors to meet drugmakers’ quality standards.
The move aims to open a higher-value industrial market for cassava and help replace imports with locally produced pharmaceutical-grade starch, a purified form of plant starch used as an excipient in medicines.
Pharmaceutical-grade starch typically serves as a binder, filler or disintegrant in tablets and capsules. While not an active pharmaceutical ingredient, it helps give medicines their required form, stability and performance.
The Industrial Cassava Stakeholders Association of Nigeria (ICSAN) has called on processors to target the pharmaceutical market, recognising the country’s drug industry as a promising customer for cassava processors. However, the group notes that local production does not yet adequately meet drugmakers’ requirements.
The industry’s interest in pharmaceutical starch builds on government efforts to develop local production. In December 2024, the Nigerian Natural Medicine Development Agency (NNMDA) unveiled an initiative to use Nigeria’s large cassava supply to produce pharmaceutical-grade starch locally.
The agency brought together stakeholders across the value chain and stressed the need for closer cooperation among them. The project included plans to develop cassava cultivation for pharmaceutical applications and strengthen the capabilities of businesses across the value chain.
In January 2026, NNMDA Director General Martins Emeje said research into producing pharmaceutical-grade starch from local cassava was 85 per cent complete.
According to Emeje, the agency had already produced its own pharmaceutical starch and assessed its quality with funding from the Senate. The next stage is a pilot phase expected to include a government-owned pharmaceutical starch production facility within one to two years.
Emeje said the agency expects to have both the product and the manufacturing facility operational within that period.
The economic opportunity lies in import substitution. In 2024, NNMDA estimated that Nigeria spent about $23 million annually on imported pharmaceutical-grade starch.
ICSAN says replacing those imports will require more than simply increasing starch production. Locally made products must meet drugmakers’ standards for purity, microbiological quality, performance and traceability.
The Association is calling for closer ties between cassava processors and pharmaceutical manufacturers. It also wants the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) and the Raw Materials Research and Development Council (RMRDC) involved in helping producers meet the necessary technical and industrial requirements.
ICSAN said pharmaceutical companies need reliable, standards-compliant excipients, while cassava processors need stable industrial markets that can justify investment in technology and quality. The Association sees those needs as complementary.
Pharmaceutical starch could give Nigerian cassava processors another market outside the food industry. The effort is part of a broader search for industrial uses that can create more demand for the crop.
Since 2023, the government has worked to develop a domestic cassava-based bioethanol industry. In January 2026, the government said it had begun a process to bring 14 million smallholder farmers into the cassava bioethanol value chain.
Pharmaceutical-grade starch would add another potential industrial market. However, capturing the $23 million import market will depend on whether Nigerian processors can consistently produce starch that meets the strict quality requirements of the country’s drug manufacturers.