Nigerian consumers squeezed as price of garri rises 37%

The price of garri, a staple food consumed mainly by low-income Nigerians, has gone up by 37percent in the last one month owing to farmers’ reluctance to cultivate cassava in large quantities due to glut, farmers told BusinessDay.

BusinessDay survey at Mile 12 market shows that a 60kg of red garri currently sells for N8,000 as against N5850 sold a month ago.

Similarly, a 60kg of white garri goes for N6,500 as against N4,800 sold a month ago.

This shows a 37 percent increase in the price of red garri and a 34 percent increase in the price of white garri.

In many markets across Nigeria, a small bucket of garri, popularly known as ‘painter’, currently sells for N700 as against N450 sold a month ago.

In Shagamu, a bag of garri sells for N7,500 as against N5,350 sold a month ago.

Nigeria is the largest producer and consumer of cassava in the world with production capacity of 42 million metric tonnes per annum (mtpa), according to data from the Ministry of Agriculture.

However, processors are currently finding it difficult to get enough cassava tubers for their factories.

This is attributed to farmers’ reluctance to plant cassava last year owing to a market glut, which brought down the price of the product all through 2018 and 2019.

“Last year, a lot of farmers did not plant cassava because there was gut, which impacted seriously on farmers, who could no longer plant the produce in large quantity,” Ayowole Olayinka, chief executive officer, Viyola Foods told BusinessDay in a telephone interview.

“The situation is now affecting processors. We hardly get enough volume of cassava tubers for our factory currently,” Olayinka said.

“I had to visit several WhatsApp platforms to search for suppliers for our factory,” he explained.

He noted that there is also the scarcity of labourers owing to the border closure that has restricted Togolese and Beninoise into come the country, adding that they collect cheaper wages, unlike their Nigerian counterparts.

“The cost of labour and inputs are higher now, such that small-holder farmers cannot afford to plant in large quantities,” he said.

Ademola Olaleye, a cassava farmer in Ogun State said that it was difficult for cassava farmers last year, as many of them could not recoup the investment they invested on their farms owing to the glut.

“We were even begging processors to come and buy from us as there was oversupply of cassava in the market. This affected so many farmers and many did not replant cassava but shifted to the cultivation of other crops,” Olaleye said.

“We want the government to find a lasting solution to this glut problem that cassava farmers suffer from periodically. All farmers need to be supported not just only rice farmers,” he added.

Nigeria’s inflation accelerated by 0.54percet in December 2019 to 11.98percent as against 11.44percent recorded in the same period in 2018, data from the National Bureau of Statistics states.

Josephine Okojie