As prices of food items increase across the nationhood, the cost of garri, a popular staple food in Nigeria has hit its record high in three months as cassava production shrinks which has led to a public outcry by the populace.
Nigeria is the largest producer and consumer of cassava in the world and churned out 60.8 million metric tonnes of cassava in 2022, according to data from the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO).
“The production of the tubers in 2023, according to farmers, was hindered by climate change impact, worsening insecurity and the uncertainty around last year’s elections has great impact on the cultivation of cassava and other food items.
The harmattan season, known for its extreme dryness, has severely impacted cassava cultivation across the country cutting production,” said Nike Tinubu, CEO of Eagleson Cassava.
“The dryness has hardened the ground, making harvesting extremely difficult and more labour-intensive. This not only increases labour costs but also leads to post-harvest losses as some cassava roots break during the strenuous extraction process,” she said.
She noted that this leads to output shortfall and a sharp increase in the price of the tubers.
Segun Adewumi, national president of Nigeria Cassava Growers Association (NCGA) said lots of farmers were discouraged from cultivating the tubers last year owing to uncertainty surrounding the 2023 elections.
“The uncertainty and potential disruption during the change in government discouraged farmers from cultivating cassava as extensively as usual. This is what led to the production shortfall,” Adewumi said.
Cassava which is used for the production of garri, is also used to produce various industrial products like starch, ethanol, flour, glucose syrup, and sweeteners among others that are used as raw material by numerous industries with limitless domestic and export market potential.
Flour millers are now blending more volume of high-quality cassava flour into wheat amid acute dollar scarcity and surging input costs, according to experts.
“Millers are using more cassava flour and some industries have sprung up, using cassava, this has further increased the demand for the tubers,” the national president said.
The worsening rate of insecurity has also reduced the output of the tubers as farmers abandoned their farmlands for safety.
According to experts, Nigeria has lost about 60 percent of its food production in key-producing states owing to rising insecurity. The situation has led to a production shortfall in most crops in the country.
“There are lots of farmlands that have been abandoned by farmers owing to the escalating insecurity in the country,” Mogaji, chief executive officer of X-Ray Consulting.
Also, farmers are not expanding their production areas while some are shifting to the cultivation of other crops owing to some of the challenges in cassava production, Mogaji said.
Cassava requires considerable post-harvest labour because the roots are highly perishable and must be processed into a storable form soon after harvest, he noted.
He stated that owing to the high cost of labour, especially in the Southwest region, lots of farmers are growing less cassava and concentrating more on other crops.
