The vacuum in the Cassava value chain

Cassava no doubt plays a vital role in economic security for ordinary farmers and small scale food processors. Many rely on this as a source of income. Unfortunately there is a little problem in it’s value chain.

Some of the key states that produce cassava in Nigeria include; Ondo, Nassarawa, Ekiti, Kwara, Oyo, Osun, and Kogi.

For every crop value chain. The bulk of value (and profit) should go to the processor. Unfortunately this does not seem to be the case with Cassava farming.

It is a known fact that; the major processors of cassava are the millions of micro processors who transform the crop into garri, flour and starch for consumption. However, they are not getting value for money, for their back breaking work.

Cassava is easy to cultivate, compared to yam and cocoyam. The crop can stay relative underground after maturity for a large period without spoiling. This give farmers valuable time to plan for market fluctuations.

If sales in a particular season is bad, you can be sure that cultivation for the next season will reduce. Largely, the supply of cassava roughly tracks demand.

For the cassava processor this isn’t always the case because of the horrible infrastructure which affects supply into into rural markets that microprocessors frequent. They are the sole victims of the lacuna in the cassava value chain.

With no one else buying cassava apart from the microprocessors as it can’t be eaten raw.

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When the price of yam rises, the cost is transferred to consumers in the cities almost immediately. The farmer doesn’t lose, and neither do others.

For cassava, garri, starch, fufu and flour, prices hardly fluctuate as wildly as cassava does. This is because of the role played by the middlemen, who straddle the divide between the urban and the rural.

These players ensure that prices of cassava derivatives follow a predictable curve of lower prices during the rainy season. And high prices during the dry season.

In all these, millions of cassava microprocessors end up on the losing end of the bargain. Meaning that a vast majority of them are trapped in poverty because they are hardly able to make profit from cassava processing. Most often time, they only realise enough to eat from one market day to the next. Relying on deforestation as a source of processing fuel.

The Gap in the Cassava Value Chain is Huge

As stated above, there is a huge gap in the chain to disrupt the entire industry. Farmers are able to utilise the waste products like peels and starch, which are collected during cassava processing cycle.

Unfortunately, most microprocessors don’t have the ability to process cassava peels and often leave it to waste. Processing outfits that can buy these peels from the microprocessors by weight will put more cash in their pockets.

Starch is often wasted in two ways during the cassava processing cycle which are:

1. Waste occur when cassava is being pressed to remove any poisonous content inside it. A good part of the expelled liquid is actually starch which can be collected and sold.
2. Some of it’s residues also become trapped within the cassava mulch on its way to being pressed and fried. Allowing a sizeable quantity of starch to be collected from grated cassava before it is pressed. Without it affecting the volume of the garri produced, subjected to demand by a paying customer.

How the Monopoly of Middlemen can be Broken in the Cassava Making Industry

Below are some of the ways that the monopoly of middlemen can be disrupted in the cassava market. These people make it impossible for microprocessors to earn a profit from their back-breaking work.

1. Provision of storage facility: There is a need for a storage facility for all sorts of crops and produce including garri. Farmers are not worried about their crops getting spoiled and they end up having the bargaining power.
2. Prevailing market price: There is a need to ensure the value of cassava is commensurate with any prevailing market price for garri and purchase from all producers.

For these conditions to be met, there has to be a minimum quality of clean, crunchy, fried garri that has to be enforced by the stakeholders.

Retailers also need to ensure that garri is bought from sellers who sell a specific weight of cassava peels per garri weight.

Buyers too should also ensure that they buy garri from those who extract and sell a specific weight of starch per garri weight to consumers.

For the processing outfit, they should only patronise only those who want to double their income from processing their garri from them making it a more reliable source of high-quality garri in the market.

This would also make them act as a clearing house between microprocessors and middlemen, providing a small margin of profit from the business.

It would also enable the distortion in the cassava value chain to be set right. Thereby leading to improvement in the livelihoods of millions of small scale processors.

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