ROMANUS Eze, the Chairman of Enugu State chapter of Cassava Farmers’ Association, has attributed the current fall in the price of garri to massive cassava production.

Eze, who is a large-scale cassava farmer, made this assertion in an interview with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Enugu on Friday.

He said that cassava farming had increased appreciably in all the states across the South-East geopolitical zone of the country in 2017, leading to a fall in the price of garri at various markets in 2018.

He said that many people went into cassava cultivation because of the scarcity of cassava stems in 2017, recalling that many farmers could not buy enough cassava stems last year due to its prohibitive cost.

“In 2017, cassava stems were sold to farmers at a high price; some stems were sold at the rate of between N1,500 and N1,800 per bunch.

“With the high cost of cassava stems in 2017, many people decided to go into cassava farming and this led into massive cassava production and a consequent reduction in the price of garri,” he said.

Eze said that the state chapter of cassava farmers association had mapped out strategies to ensure that the enhanced cassava production level was sustained by sourcing additional markets for the produce.

He said that the Anchor Borrower’s Programme of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) had really facilitated plans to boost cassava production by getting off-takers for the produce.

Besides, Eze said that the state chapter of the association had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with some off-takers who were ready to buy all the cassava produced by the farmers.

He said that that agreement with off-takers would encourage cassava farmers in the state to improve their production without any fear of how to get markets for their produce.

– Jun. 29, 2018 @ 16:15 GMT |