As the economic hardship persists in the country , the sale and consumption of cassava flakes popularly known as “garri”is currently experiencing an extraordinary boom, Madam Sherifat Abdulwahab , a trader at Dei-Dei market recounts her gains. ADEOLA AKINBOBOLA reports.
Garri business in the country has been yielding tremendous result since the federal government announced agriculture as a veritable alternative to crude oil and the call on Nigerians by the government to diversify.
Blueprint observed that many Nigerians, have resorted to the consumption of garri due to lack of jobs and money to sustain themselves as the hardship persists.
A trader at DeiDei market, Madam Sherifat 63 , a native of Osun state now see garri as a lucrative business and residents troop in and out of her shop to patronize her.
It was observed that most homes are now preparing a lot more garri (Eba) while others drink it with groundnut. According to her, instead of sitting at home and waiting for her husband to provide for the whole family, she would rather prefer to assist him with the business.
She said she now spends longer hours in the market because the garri sales are on high demand.
Prices of garri
She said a bag of garri is now sold from N40,000 as at before N7,000 while that of the yellow is higher than it adding that the days of high patronage is usually now everyday, adding that it has become very expensive because of the bad economy and hike in the price of fuel .
Checks by Business Starter observed that the price of 25kg bag is N20,000 as Ijebu Garri is N17,500, 50kg of Garri is N40,000 while Ijebu Garri is N35,000.
5kg Garri is now N4,000 while Ijebu Garri is N3,500, 10kg of Garri goes for N8,000 while Ijebu garri is N7,000.
According to her, customers order for them in advance, but that depends on their respective types “ Everyday is our season. That is when we make great sales. If the situation is good, restaurant operators buy more than N15,000 to N20, 000per day “.
Challenges
Madam Sherifat said aside from the weather, we are faced with different issues during the season . Another major difficulties we experience is Transporting the goods from the farm to the market place; the bad roads and distance makes the cost of transportation very high.
According to her when goods are supplied at an affordable prices to the sellers, they tend to increase the cost price higher than expected, so as to make extra profit from each bags .
She said as a supplier , she includes the cost of transportation and carriage from my state to Lagos as well as cos price , yet it is still sold anteasonable amount.
She said eh only challenge now is that the supply is and cost price is higher than before .
How to preserve garri
Garri (yellow and white) prepared from cassava roots is very common staple food stuff in Nigeria. It is used as food by adding cold water to which it impacts a sour flavour and is very good as a drink.
Traditionally, it is made into a dough with hot water and eaten with vegetable or any other soup. garri is one of the food stuffs that has microbiological problem only during storage.
The process of preparation involves frying the stuff at high temperature which would have killed all micro-organisms, but after preparation however, other fungal spores infect the garri and most of them cause spoilage.
The most important factor encouraging mould contamination of garri is the initial high moisture content and the relative humidity (R.H) of the air within and around the commodity. during storage. It is known that microbial activity is reduced to minimum at relative humidity of 70 % or less.
Moulds especially Aspergillus species have been isolated and identified from samples of garri under various storage and marketing conditions.
The development of mould leads to great modification in the chemical composition of infected stored produce. One of the most significant changes is an increase in free fatty acids (FFA) and reducing sugars as well as a loss in protein content.
An increase in the moisture content and mould colony counts of white and yellow garri samples stored below safe moisture level in polythene bags was earlier reported.
This study therefore investigated the moisture and mould content of garri offer for sale in four major markets in Lapai and Paikoro Local Government Areas in Niger State Nigeria and their effects on shelf- life of garri during storage using different packaging materials.
The results of which will be used to make recommendation for the best packaging materials for storage of garri in these areas towards food sustainable programme.
FG on feed the future
It would be recalled that the Feed the Future Nigeria Agricultural Policy Project has conducted a capacity building training for fish farmers, researchers and students in Niger and Kebbi states. The event focused on value chain concepts and analysis in the fish subsector brought participants from the private sector, government, research institutes, as well as three universities. Michigan State University (MSU) experts led by Dr Tom Reardon and Dr Saweda Liverpool-Tasie presented the current international best practices of using representative samples of key nodes across value chains to understand the structure, conduct and performance of value chains and their actors.
The training sessions provided detailed steps to conduct such studies and empowered participants to apply these techniques for a more accurate and holistic perspective of various agricultural subsectors in Nigeria. The benefited institutions were Kebbi State University of Science and Technology, Aliero, Federal University of Technology, Minna and Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida University, Lapai working alongside farmers. The 4-days training exposed participants to the skills needed for proper data collection when basic information needed for developing a sampling frame is lacking.
How to start a small scale business
Starting a business in Nigeria, whether small or medium sized, requires in depth planning and strategies.
To run a successful small-scale business, the business person needs to design a business plan, source for funding and officially register its business with the relevant authority.
The company should conduct market intelligence on how to run a fish business, and ensure that it has fulfilled all legal demands to operate smoothly.
1.
Design a business plan to guide you in entering the market. Designing a business strategy enables you to survey the market structure, get an in-depth look into your business competitor, and determine the funds needed to start up your business. In the business plan, clearly identify your target market and a marketing strategy to penetrate the industry.
2.
Draw up a Memorandum and Articles of Association with your business lawyer. The company’s external affairs and internal policy is outlined in the Memorandum and Articles of Association. The document is availed in public domain and is a requirement for any registered company. As a small-scale fish business, it is wise to register your company as a private limited, where you have control over the transfer of shares.
3.
Determine your business name and countercheck with the Corporate Affairs Commission if the name is available. Fill out an application form by eithervisiting the CAC website or office to commence a name quest. The search takes at least two days and if the name is available then it is reserved.
4.
Authenticate the Declaration of Compliance (Form CAC 4). This document declares to the relevant authorities that all documents required are needed. The business lawyer fills the form from the Federal High Court and State High Court by the business lawyer. The process takes at least a day and the authenticate Declaration of Compliance form is given to the business proprietor.
5.
Register your company by surrendering all the official papers pertaining to integration to the Corporate Affairs Commission. All the documents are available from CAC site. The official papers include the Memorandum and Articles of Association, Declaration of Compliance and Notice of Registered Address (Form CAC 3) among others.
