The price of garri, a staple food in most Nigerian households, has dropped by about 22%in many markets in Enugu.
A survey by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) correspondent in the city on Friday shows that a paint bucket of white garri dropped from ₦3,500 to ₦2,500.
Also, the price of a paint bucket of the yellow variety sells for between ₦3,500 and ₦3,200 as against ₦4,000 and ₦3,700, depending on the brand. Some of the dealers attributed the development to the ongoing cassava harvest in some parts of the state.
A retailer at the New Market, Enugu, Nkechi Egbo, told NAN that a 100kg bag of white garri, which previously sold for ₦134,400, now goes for ₦105,000. Egbo said that a 100kg bag of the yellow garri, which sold for ₦168,000 and ₦160,000, now sells for ₦142,000 and ₦147,000, respectively.
She further said that a milk cup of yellow garri that sold for ₦300 and ₦200 now goes for ₦250, ₦200 and ₦150 per cup.
Another retailer, who gave her name simply as Mama Ada, also attributed the drop in the price to high harvest in Ugbawka and Nara Communities in Nkanu East Local Government Council Areas.
She said that the price might further drop in the coming weeks as other communities in Enugu and Ebonyi States continue to harvest their last year's cassava while planting new ones.
Meanwhile, a farmer, Mathew Nwankwo, said the price of garri skyrocketed “because of the prices of other communities in the market and high cost of cultivating cassava”.
According to Nwankwo, a farmer who sold garri will need to buy rice, beans and other commodities, which prices have doubled in the market.
“Aside from this, we pay labourers ₦300 to prepare a ridge as against the previous ₦150.
“You will feed them twice a day and if you are farming in another person’s land, you also pay for the land.
“I live at Ugwuomu Nike and we pay for harvest, transportation, peeling, firewood, water, red oil to colour the garri as well as the people that fry it,” he said.
Nwankwo said that he bought cassava stems worth ₦40,000 for his 10 plots of land and that it was not enough.
“All these expenses contributed to the high cost of the commodity in the market,” he further said.
A teacher, Vivian Okoro, described the drop in the price of garri as a welcome development. Okoro said that many families in the country were finding it extremely difficult to buy the commodity due to its high price.
She, however, urged the government at all levels to support farmers to make staple foods, such as rice, beans and garri, amongst others, affordable to ordinary Nigerians.