Farmers blame rainfall for high cost of garri

Farmers in Boki Local Government Area
of Cross River on Wednesday blamed
excessive rainfall for the high cost of
garri in the area.
They made the remark in separate
interviews with the News Agency of
Nigeria (NAN) in Boki, Cross River State.
The President of Boki Farmers
Association, Richard Abang, said the price
of garri had risen because farmers had to
process the commodity under the rain.
Mr. Abang said that during the rainy
season, it was difficult to produce a basin
of garri, adding that so much water had
entered into the body of the cassava,
thereby making it difficult to harvest
enough tubers to produce a basin.
“During the dry season, it takes few
tubers of cassava to produce a basin of
garri, but it is not so in the rainy season
when you need to harvest enough tubers
in order to produce a basin of garri,” he
said.
According to him, there are fears that the
price of a basin of garri will increase from
N4, 500 to N5, 000 before the end of the
rainy season.
A basin of the yellow garri currently sells
for N4, 500, while the white basin goes
for N4, 000.
A civil servant who is also a farmer,
Paulina Odu, said that the price of garri
could reduce, only if there was a break
in rainfall.
A cross section of visitors living in the
area expressed worry over the high cost
of garri.
One of them, Chuwkwudi Ibekwe, noted
that garri was the staple food for the
common man, adding that the high cost
of the commodity had caused hardship
and starvation in many homes.
He, therefore, appealed to the association
to reduce the price of garri, to make
it affordable.