- Fishermen engage garri sellers in barter trade
- Herders’ menace, industries’ demand for
- cassava force price to skyrocket
Garri, a staple food among Nigerians, is fast becoming unaffordable for the common man from whom the product previously enjoyed the most patronage. The combined forces of insecurity and high demand for cassava by industrialists has forced its price to more than triple in the last few months. INNOCENT DURU reports that the situation could get worse if measures are not put in place to address the challenges.
Gatu Local Government Area of Benue State is reputed for large scale farming and massive harvest of farm produce. Over the years, the people who are mainly farmers have processed their cassava into garri and sold in large quantities to people within and outside the state.
That, however, has not been the case in recent times. Rather than produce and sell the product like they had done for decades, the people now have to beg for rations to feed their families. For the embattled people, the era of asking their hungry children to go into the house and soak some garri to assuage their hunger appears to have gone.
Explaining the reasons for the sad development, a community leader, Peter Eigege, said: “Herdsmen have been destroying our cassava and other farm products. From January till now that I am talking to you, we have not gone to the farm.
“We used to produce garri in large quantities and sell to people outside our community. But that is no longer possible because of herders’ activities. They use their cattle to uproot everything.
“Because of this, garri production has not been taking place. You can only get garri in other places outside Agatu land. Our people have resorted to alternatives.
“Our people, who used to eat three times a day, can no longer do so. There is serious hunger in the land.”
Decrying a recent attack on his farm, he said: “When I went to check my farm during the week, the melon that I planted and that had germinated very well was destroyed by cows.
“The herders’ cattle went there on Tuesday and ate up everything. Everything I had laboured for was destroyed by cattle.
“Here in Agatu, you can only be on your farm till 9am. Any time later than that is dangerous because the herders can come to the farm, destroy your produce and kill you.”
But Peter’s tales would seem only a tip of the iceberg with regard to what the people are really going through in the community.
A prominent member of the community, Hon. Bawa Haruwa, who is presently in Otukpo, painted a grimmer picture of what is happening in the area.
He said: “People are dying of hunger naturally because the common garri that sustains them is no longer affordable. People are not coping at all.
“These days, you just hear that somebody has died. But when you look at it critically, you will find that hunger is the primary cause of the death.
“When people die, they would say that he or she died of brief illness, but behind that small illness is hunger.
“Garri, which was poor man’s food, is no longer available to sustain him.”
Corroborating Peter’s remarks, Hon. Haruna said: “Herdsmen are the problem and cause of hunger in Agatu land. Herders’ attacks contribute 70 per cent to garri scarcity in Agatu land.
“Farmers have not gone to farm in Agatu and the adjoining local government areas in a long time.
“People are not farming, and they are not into production. How would there not be scarcity and rise in the price of garri?”
The National President of Cassava Growers Association, Mustapha Othman Bakano, also identified insecurity as one of the reasons for the spike in the price of garri.
He said: “Insecurity is one the challenges affecting cassava production. Most of the farmlands in the Northwest and some others parts of the country cannot be accessed.
“A lot of places with arable land are actually covered by bandits.”
Like the Agatu in Benue State, the people of Fishtown in Sangana area of Bayelsa State, who usually bought garri in large quantities from neigbouring communities after their fishing expedition, can no longer do so.
In order to have some garri to take care of their families, many of the farmers have resorted to trade by barter.
“We give fish to garri sellers who in turn give us some quantities of garri,” Noel Ikonikumo, the head of the fishermen said.
“Garri is no longer affordable, and that is what many poor families depend on to combat hunger.
“The price of small plastic is between N2,800 and N3,500. Not many people can afford it. In fact, I would say that it is by God’s grace that we are surviving.”
Also decrying the high cost of garri, Umaru, a native of Borno State, said the development has compounded the woes faced by poor families.
“Before now, my children and I could take garri just as snacks even when we were not hungry, but that is not possible anymore. We only take garri now when we are hungry.
“The price has gone beyond reach and still rising. The common man’s food is no longer affordable. It is heart rending,” he said.
Processors list other causes of surging price
Beyond the challenges posed by insecurity, Hon Bawa said the cost of processing cassava into garri is also responsible for the rising price.
He said: “As at the time we were selling garri for N22,000 the grinding of raw cassava was N6,000, the frying was also N6,000, the jerking was just N200 a bag.
“This time around, a basin that was being fried for N600 or N1,000 is now N2,500. The grinding is also the same. They do it for N2500. The jerking that was N200 is now N300.
“The grinders are saying that the costs of gas and engine parts have gone up and consequently hiked their charges.”
Continuing, he said: “If you are not a cassava farmer, the challenges will be different.
“Before now, we were buying a pick up load of cassava for N150,000, now it is between N250,000 and N300,000. When you add this to the cost of production, definitely the price will not be the same with what it was in the past.
“You can’t invest and sell at a loss. If you are into business, your ultimate aim is to make profit in order to remain in business. If there is no profit, the business will not be sustainable.
“The change in cost of production started when oil subsidy was removed.”
Reacting to arguments that price of garri may drop when rainfall increases and new cassava comes out, Hon. Haruna said: “Those are negligible part of the challenge at hand. Now that rain is falling seriously, is the ground still very strong?
“Now that raining has started falling and the ground is very soft, is it the softness that caused the increment in the cost of garri?
“Cassava has no season like other crops. People who planted it last year are harvesting now. If you are planting now you are expected to harvest from next year. So, the price has nothing to do with having new or old cassava.
“The people who are farming in the air are the ones giving unfounded reasons for the rise in the price of garri. They are not real farmers.”
For those hoping that the price will come down soon, Haruna has this to say: “I don’t think the price will come down very soon. It is only by government intervention that the price can drop.
“Prices of fertilizers and herbicides have also gone up. All these add to the cost of production.”
Also sharing his thought on the cause of the rising cost of garri, Godspower, a farmer and processor in Ovia River area of Benin, Edo State, said: “The land which many farmers were using to plant annual crops like cassava before is now being used for perennial crops like cocoa and palm tree, among others. Before now, garri production was not yielding meaningful results and it was as if people were labouring in vain.
“Some land owners are also not helping matters. They are selling their lands only to well-to-do people in the society instead of the local farmers. Some of them sell as much as 100 acres to these people, who use them to build factories.”
Another challenge, according to Godspower, is that many companies now buy tubers of cassava for ethanol and noodles production.
“There wasn’t so much of such demand in the past. The demand for cassava is getting very, very high and they are being converted to other uses different from garri production.
“With all these, the production and supply of garri is now lower while the demand is getting higher,” he said.
From his many years experience of tilling the soil, Godspower said the land is also not yielding as it is supposed to because people don’t allow it to fallow. “Formerly, when you cultivated cassava, it was supposed to stay in the ground for 15 months before it would be harvested. But now, because of the amount of hunger in the land, many farmers don’t wait for 15 months again.
“Some harvest their cassava within eight or nine months, and the yield is always poor. The quality of the garri is also not good.
“They go ahead to plant new ones thereafter, thus destroying the farmland. The farmers don’t have enough to sustain themselves let alone having a left over.”
Godspower warned that if the general situation in the country is not brought under control, the price of garri may keep increasing on a daily basis.
“Even when new cassava comes out, the price of garri will not reduce,” he warned.
How to improve cassava production, reduce garri’s price
The National President of Cassava Growers Association of Nigeria, Mustapha Othman Bakano, is optimistic that the rising price of garri can be brought down if necessary measures are put in place.
He said: “We, as an association are looking at major factors like unavailability of certain incentives. The government is giving some inputs but there have to be more incentives in place so that we would be able to enhance production.
“You cannot just give certain farming inputs and farmer cannot be able to access certain aids from different areas to cushion the effect.
“For example, you give me fertiliser and herbicides, but I will need some financial assistance to augment the farm. For example tractorization will be done, there will be clearing of the land among other logistics.
“The ability to access that small funding is very important. You are looking at it as small but it is very big in the hands of a small scale farmer.To increase production, those variables must be put in place.
Aside from increasing productivity, Mustapha also hinted on the need to give life to the value chain.
He said: “We have different areas that are producing cassava. We have the Southwest, the South-South and the Northcentral.
“What we are trying to do is to expand production. It is not just about producing the cassava as growers but looking at the value chain entirely – the growing and the processors at the same time.
“We are looking at the cost analysis that will make it balanced so that it will now be cheaper.
“If I produce from the farm gate, the processor will have to take it up. When the processor takes it up, there will have to be a processing system. So, there has to be an incentive across the value chain –from the growers to the processors.
“Cassava is 70 per cent water. It ferments after 72 hours, which will be a loss to the farmer. What if there is a synergy between the grower and the processor? By the time the processor off takes, he has only necessary abilities to process it to garri as quickly as possible.”
Continuing, Mustapha said the “only way he (processor) can do it is to have certain incentives where Bank of Industry has to come in. This is where the BOI will have to come in to ensure the value chain is managed properly so that the processors can also off take it from the growers.
“The BOI should also focus on how they can go into mechanised farming with an association like ours.
“Small scale farming has proved beyond reasonable doubts that it is not helping this country. We need to mechanise in order to have sufficient production that can feed the country.
“We are grossly under producing now for the population. Underproduction is also reason for the high cost of garri.
“If people are not having the ability to produce the required amount within a certain community, of course there will be challenges. It will increase the cost.
“The most important thing is the ability to produce. The inability to produce is what is causing these shortfalls.”
Asked if harvested cassava is sold mainly to people processing and producing garri or to other users, he said: “For us in our association, we want to ensure that we create an avenue where we say this production is from this section of the country or this part of the farm will go for industrial, this section will go for garri and this section will go for high quality cassava flour so that we can know what goes for food security or what goes for industrial.
“Some of the farmers are producing to quickly see how they can off take from them. The industrial demand for cassava now is increasing daily. It is also increasing the price of this commodity in the market.
“The industries too are important because they produce for the pharmaceuticals.
“People are producing ethanol for which demand is about 300 million and we are producing less than 10 million which is grossly inadequate. It means that the market demand for cassava is essential for the country.
“This is why we are importing most of our pharmaceutical demands. This is where the shortfalls come in. We really need to up our game. When we up our game, we need to sit down and agree on what is going for industrial needs and what is going in for food security.
“That can only be done from areas where we have data management systems.”
The association, Mustapha said, has data management systems. “If the government is willing we are ready to partner with them by saying that our members from XYZ will produce for your industrial need.
“But the most important is the need for that off takers arrangement so that the farmer will be comfortable that after his production, this XYZ has been determined.
“For us in the association we have already started working on chatting a course where we will have a pool.
“When we have a pool, all local farmers that are producing half or one hectare can bring in their cassava and we will do a collection centre from where we can send them to where it is appropriately demanded so that they will not lose from what they are producing.
“We are hoping that Bank of Industry can look into this proposal and see how we can expand on this.”
Cost of garri, other food items shoot up inflation rate
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) recently identified the rising cost of garri and other food items for the soaring inflation rate in the country.
The bureau early this month said the inflation rate rose from 33.69% in April 2024 to 33.95% in May 2024.
The Bureau based the increase on the rise in the cost of food and non- alcoholic beverages that went up by 1.11% and the prices of housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuel, which rose by 0.36%.
Its document titled: “CPI and Inflation Report May 2024,” which made this known, also said the rise in inflation in May was by 0.26% point.
The report said, “In May 2024, the headline inflation rate increased to 33.95% relative to the April 2024 headline inflation rate which was 33.69%. Looking at the movement, the May 2024 headline inflation rate showed an increase of 0.26% points when compared to the April 2024 headline inflation rate.”
The report said food inflation in the period under review was 2.28%.
But NBS said on a year-on-year basis, the headline inflation rate was 11.54% points higher compared to the rate recorded in May 2023, which was 22.41%. The data noted that this shows that the headline inflation rate (year-on-year basis) increased in the month of May 2024 when compared to the same month in the preceding year (i.e., May 2023).
On the contrary, said NBS, on a month-on-month basis, the headline inflation rate in May 2024 was 2.14%, which was 0.15% lower than the rate recorded in April 2024 (2.29%).
The Bureau said this means that in the month of May 2024, the rate of increase in the average price level is less than the rate of increase in the average price level in April 2024.
On food inflation in May, the report said, “Like the month-on-month headline inflation, the month-on-month Food inflation rate in May 2024 was 2.28%, also shows a decrease of 0.22% compared to the rate recorded in April 2024 (2.50%).
“The fall in the Food inflation on a Month-on-Month basis was caused
by a fall in the rate of increase in the average prices of Palm Oil, Groundnut Oil (under Oil and Fats Class), Yam, Irish Potatoe, Cassava Tuber (under Potatoes, Yam & Other Tubers Class), Wine, Bournvita, Milo, Nescafe (under Coffee, Tea and Coco Class).”
