Can't do without

In today's article,we will be talking about how cassava has become a part and parcel of the African meal and how Africa cannot do without it

Currently, about half of the world production of cassava is in Africa. Cassava is cultivated in around 40 African countries, stretching through a wide belt from Madagascar in the Southeast to Senegal and to Cape Verde in the Northwest. Around 70 percent of Africa's cassava output is harvested in Nigeria, the Congo and Tanzania (IFAD and FAO, 2000). Throughout the forest and transition zones of Africa, cassava is either a primary staple or a secondary food staple. There's even a song praising cassava in Africa, did you know before?

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Due to poverty and a lack of foreign exchange, Africa's net cereal imports are expected to remain low (Pinstrup-Anderson et al., 2000). Therefore, the urgent challenge before African nations is to increase domestic food production. Cassava is Africa's second most important food staple in terms of per capita calories consumed. Cassava is a major source of calories for roughly two out of every five Africans. In some countries, cassava is consumed daily and sometimes more than once a day. In the Congo, cassava contributes more than 1 000 calories per person per day to the average diet and many families eat cassava for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Cassava has the potential to increase farm incomes, reduce rural and urban poverty and help close the food gap. Without question, cassava holds great promise for feeding Africa's growing population. Cassava can be produced with family labour, land and a hoe and machete, making it an attractive and low-risk crop for poor farmers. Also, cassava is available to low-income rural households in the form of simple food products (for example, dried roots and leaves) which are significantly cheaper than grains such as rice, maize and wheat. Similarly, urban households in many parts of West Africa consume cassava in the form of gari (Nweke et al., 2001).

Cassava has several other advantages over rice, maize and other grains as a food staple in areas where there is a degraded resource base, uncertain rainfall and weak market infrastructure. It is drought tolerant; this attribute makes it the most suitable food crop during periods of drought and famine.Cassava has historically played an important famine-prevention role in Eastern and Southern Africa where maize is the preferred food staple and drought is a recurrent problem.

However, cassava has been neglected for numerous reasons by researchers, African policy-makers and by most donor and international agencies. Cassava is a marginalized crop in food policy debates and burdened with the stigma of being an inferior food, ill suited and uncompetitive with the glamour crops such as imported rice and wheat because of several long-standing myths and half-truths. Many food policy analysts consider cassava as an inferior food because it is assumed that its per capita consumption will decline with increasing per capita incomes (Nweke et al., 2001). It is we, the Africans,who know more practically and experiencially how beneficial cassava is,therefore, let's rise up and welcome with open arms the saviour of Africa,because cassava has come to stay!!!

Help us!!

This next article will focus on the challenges gari makers at Akuffo- Krodua and Jei- Krodua,two villages in the Ewutu Senya District of the Central Region of Ghana face and what their dreams and aspirations are.

The kind of people involved in making gari

 The Ewutu Senya District is the entry point to the Central part of Ghana. According to ghanadistricts.com,  Awutu- Efutu-Senya is one of the three most urbanised districts in the region, with over 60 per cent of the population living in urban areas. It is also one of the districts with the most urban localities, having five urban localities, making 18.6 per cent of the total urban population of the region. Some of the localities found in the district include Bawjiase, Adawukwa, Ayirisu and Krodua.

Aerial view of Krodua

The beautiful scenery of Krodua

 Krodua is a major town found in the rocky mountainous  ranges of the Awutu Senya District of the Central Region. It is a 2hour drive from the capital, Accra. Akuffo and Jei are two of the sub-localities of Krodua. The people here are predominantly farmers and petty traders,mostly dealing with crops like cassava and gari-making  which seems to be the most lucrative venture,despite the existence of other businesses. Over the years, though many youth in Krodua make a livelihood out of gari-making, they do so at the expense of other important areas of their lives like  getting quality education and living normal nuclear- family- going- and-coming- home- from- school- experience that the average Ghanaian youth is used to and experiences.

Meet these young people from Akuffo-Krodua, and hear their story

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61-PuFlqJCY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=0BJ2a7jfxmM

 These young people must be in school, but because they need money to pay fees,they have dropped out of the race to enter the university!! The yougest girl among them told me she attends the local secondary school twice in a month because she stays in the house to make gari and goes back to school as and when she has fried enough gari to sell and make profits!! They showed me their qualifications, and my,aren't they very intelligent students!! Who knows what they could become with a little educational push!!  and you'll be amazed its their parents encouraging them to sell gari to save

And it's not only the youth in the gari business who are suffering or complaining;there are very old bone gari makers too:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=9MCe5YSicFg

The youth look older than their age, and die before their time because of the tediousness and strenght needed to engaga in gari-making! The old people cannot also stop frying the gari because they do not know where else their next meal will be coming from!! Anyone who is touched by the plight of these people, you can do something to put a smile on a face that has been deprived of one for a long time!!

Production of Gari

Source:  http://www.smallstarter.com/browse-ideas/agribusiness-and-food/gari-and-cassava-production

In this next article,we shall talk about gari as a business. Therefore,we will be looking at how gari is produced for both the internal use (local market) and the external use( international market)

  Local Production

 An important factor in the gari business is the nearness of the cassava source to  a gari processing location. This is because, if the cassava is not processed within 48 to 72 hours, that is within two to three days after harvesting, the cassava may start to spoil. Therefore,if the cassava is even not closer to the site of processing, an available transportation to the place on time must be assured

A second factor in gari production is that it can be a very manual process and the required labour or workforce is readily available and not expensive, especially if the workers have foreknowledge of making gari. This traditional, manual way of making gari is however considered  very laborious as said in this video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ArF1HjWh1U8

 Moreover,Gari that is not properly processed (especially by manual methods), may not last long in storage due to its high moisture (water) content. Therefore, choose to sell the finished product as soon as it is bagged and ready. On the contrary, if moisture content in the finished product can be kept very low (using machine production), gari is known to last up to a year in storage and will command very good prices in the market during non-harvest periods. It is therefore wise to invest in cassava processing machinery to save a lot of costs and improve the quality of  gari. Several machines including Cassava graters, Fermentation racks, Hydraulic presses, Automatic Garri Fryers and Vibrating Sieves are available and can make the production process less tiring and economical.

 For any entrepreneur to favourably exploit the opportunities in the gari market, he/she may also have to invest in cultivating the cassava crop on his/her own farm. However,if he/she is sure of a steady and very cheap supply of the fresh cassava tubers,then he/she likely to succeed without owning a cassava farm.Gari (also Garri or tapioca) is the most widely traded processed cassava product. It is estimated that more than 75 percent of the cassava produced in Africa is processed into gari. As a result, gari prices are often an indication of the demand  for cassava.However, the price of cassava has risen sharply in the past few years.The population growth in Africa has made it difficult to produce enough cassava to feed many ‘common’ Africans, despite the favourable climate, fertile soils and cheap manpower. Africa is yet to fully exploit the huge income generated from the global cassava trade.Due to the very short life, that is 2-3days of harvested cassava tubers,bad roads and power infrastructure, most of the cassava produced in Africa is consumed locally, because it is still unable to meet the growing consumption rate. As a result, a lot of the cassava harvested every year in Africa become spoilt and never get to the market. This wastage is estimated to be worth millions of dollars every year .The annual consumption of gari in West Africa is valued at several million dollars (annually) and is expected to grow with the population growth in the region. For as long as a large part of the population in the region remains virtually poor, gari will continue to be the preferred food product for many years to come. Gari has several ways of being enjoyed in Africa and is prepared in many ways across cultures and countries. It is enjoyed and consumed by both rich and poor.

Cassava is highly adaptable to Africa’s tropical climate and soils, and remains very popular for producing excellent harvests even when other crops fail. Cassava is also the most widely available source of carbohydrates and dietary energy in Africa. Processed forms of cassava, especially Gari, fufu and tapioca, are very common throughout West Africa. Gari is very popular in the region as it has traditionally remained cheaper than other carbohydrate sources, especially rice and maize.

International Production

The UK and the USA are the largest markets for exported gari because of the huge number of West Africans living there. However, there are very strict laws on exporting food products to these countries. thus, most exporters of gari have to transact with middlemen who already have licenses and meet the strict import demands of the UK and USA border authorities.The gari producer must note all these and prepare.It is also important to note that processed cassava (especially gari) is available in several different varieties. Be sure that your finished gari product appeals to the taste and tradition of your target market. Gari in Ghana may look and taste different from Nigerian or Togo gari. Even within our different countries, there are still many different types, shades and flavours of gari.The growing economy of China has made it the largest buyer of African cassava, which it uses to feed livestock (cattle, pigs etc.). China is currently responsible for more than 60 percent of global cassava consumption, and is still buying more from Africa (especially Nigeria).The estimated value of the global cassava trade is in excess of US$2 billion annually. However, Thailand, Brazil and Indonesia dominate the international trade in cassava. Some of the places to buy gari on the internet include http://gh.tradeford.com/gari,  http://www.alibaba.com/countrysearch/GH/gari-supplier.html etc.  Read more on gari production and selling at http://www.alibaba.com/countrysearch/GH/gari.html and  http:/www.smallstarter.com/browse-ideas/agribusiness-and-food/gari-and-cassava-production.

Preparation of Gari

   

This next article will speak about the processes involved in the  making of the normal gari.

Traditionally, gari is made at home in Africa, but now,it is common to find people using machines (gari grater) to produce  gari for commercial purposes. Before the arrival of the grater, the entire process was by hand.

As already stated, gari is one of the end products of cassava,therefore the entire gari-making process begins from the cassava

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=QmOOS3CpSI4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=utQGFmHhrB4


The cassava is peeled and washed. Washing should be carried out thoroughly to avoid contamination of the final product with peel and sand.The cassava is then grated with the cassava grater,collected into jute sacks and tied. Heavy stones are placed on the sacks to drain enough water because cassava contains a high amount of cyanide which is very poisonous for consumption and must therefore be well-drained and left to ferment for 3-7 days

Fermentation must be properly controlled, as too short a period will result in incomplete detoxification and a bland product. Too long a period will give the product a strong sour taste. Both over and underfermentation also badly affect the texture of the final gari. If too much liquid is pressed from the grated cassava, the gelatinization of starch during subsequent roasting is affected and the product is whiter.If sufficient liquid is not removed, however, the formation of granules during roasting is affected and the dough is more likely to form into lumps

When sufficient amount of the water content is out, the grated cassava, now a little dry, is sieved to obtain smooth granules http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MmvlPHcChIE

Fermentation must be properly controlled, as too short a period will result in incomplete detoxification and a bland product. Too long a period will give the product a strong sour taste. Both over and underfermentation also badly affect the texture of the final gari.

If too much liquid is pressed from the grated cassava, the gelatinization of starch during subsequent roasting is affected and the product is whiter.If sufficient liquid is not removed, however, the formation of granules during roasting is affected and the dough is more likely to form into lumps

When sufficient amount of the water content is out, the grated cassava, now a little dry, is sieved to obtain smooth granules

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MmvlPHcChIE

Sieving is important to obtain a high-quality product free of fibrous contaminants and with similar-sized granules The powder granules are now dry-fried or oil-fried(to be discussed later) in pans over fire. Double fire is used;the  first fire is  to dry the powder and the second is to give it a crispy taste.The powder is constantly stirred with a broken calabash until the product is dry and the desired crispiness is achieved http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=AkGoIkMsZN0                                                                                                                         Voila! normal gari is made!!                                                                    However, the only difference between making this gari and another type of gari called yellow gari is the smearing of  palm oil in the gari pan just before frying to give the gari a very yellowish colour  a flavoured taste missing in the white gari. in recent developments, another type of gari has emerged, with the difference being the addition of certain ingredients like soyabean and palm oil to enrich the look,feel,taste and protein content of the product