INTRODUCTION TO GARRI PROCESSING
Garri processing is a big business in Nigeria, not only because of a huge and growing population, but also because it serves the need and budgets of the resourced impaired Nigerians. The World Bank report in the third quarter of 2108 said Nigeria was becoming a home to the largest number of extremely poor people around the world. Hence, millions of Nigerians and thousands of households rely on available cheaper foods.
Gari is one of them.Cassava is a major staple crop in Nigeria, as cassava itself and its product are found in the daily meals of Nigerians. Currently, cassava crop is undergoing a transition from a mere subsistent crop found on the field of peasants to a commercial crop that will be grown in large quantities in plantations. This expansion of Cassava production is attributed to the discovery of cassava as a cheap source of edible carbohydrate that could be processed into different forms of human delicacies and animal feeds.
Furthermore, cassava could be source of raw materials for a number of industrial products example include, the starch, flour and ethanol. Due to the comparative advantage of cassava that could be grown in commercial quantity in most Agroecologies in Nigeria, the potential is enormous for exploitation.
Cassava is a tuberous root that contains 60 to 70 percent moisture and has a shelf life of 2 to 3 days. Once harvested, it has to be either consumed immediately or processed into more stable product forms. Cassava farmers are often unable to process harvested roots and have to sell their crop at a very low price to middlemen who are willing and able to reach them.
However, with the help of several research and development over the years, the crop can be processed into several secondary products of industrial market value.
These products include:
- Cassava chips,
- Cassava pellets,
- Cassava flour,
- Cassava adhesives,
- Alcohol, and starch
Which are vital raw materials in the livestock feed, alcohol/ethanol, textile, confectionery, wood, food and soft drinks industries. These products are also of high demand in the international market.
GARRI PROCESSING
Garri is dry, crispy, creamy-white and granular. It is estimated that 70% of the cassava produced in Nigeria is processed into gari. As a result, gari is the most commonly traded cassava product. The gari prices, therefore, are a reliable indication of the demand and supply of cassava. Other relevant processed cassava foods in the traditional (food) market include fufu, lafun and abacha (Onabalu, 2001)[i]
Traditional methods of processing cassava roots can result in poor quality products that contain unacceptable levels of cyanide, as well as being contaminated by foreign matter and disease-causing agents[ii]. If people eat these kinds of products, they can suffer from acute cyanide poisoning, goiter, and a nerve-damaging disorder that makes them unsteady and unable to walk properly.
Proper processing converts fresh cassava roots into safer and more marketable products by:
• Reducing cyanide levels in the processed products
• Prolonging shelf life
• Reducing post-harvest losses of fresh cassava roots
• Avoiding contamination of the products and the environment
In Nigeria, mechanized cassava processing is still on the developmental stage and the potential is very high.
PRODUCTION PROCESS
The basic processes involved in the production of Garri from cassava are:
- Sorting: After harvest, some roots may be damaged or rotten. These are sorted to select the wholesome roots for processing; only healthy roots (without rot or other damage) should be processed.
- Peeling and washing: Freshly harvested cassava roots are covered with soil and dirt and. The roots are peeled to remove the outer brown skin and inner thick cream layer and washed to remove stains and dirt. The water source should be checked regularly to ensure it is not dirty or contaminated.
Source: Federal Institutes Of Industrial Research Oshodi (FIIRO)
3. Grating: As part of the process to remove the cyanide and make the root safe to eat, the peeled cassava is grated into a mash or pulp. Mechanized graters are needed to produce a sufficient quantity of cassava mash to meet market demands and standards.
4. De- watering and fermenting: This completes the process of removing cyanide from the cassava mash. The water content in the mash is reduced using hydraulic press. The bags are then left to drain and ferment for a few days.
5. Granulating: The cake is mechanically reduced in size to produce fine granules of greater surface area – known as grits.
6. Roasting: The grits are then roasted or fryed in a hot frying tray or pan to form the final dry and crispy product. Gari is normally white or cream, but will be yellow when made from yellow cassava roots or when fried with palm oil. It is important to make sure the taste and smell is acceptable to local consumers. Yellow cassava roots and palm oil are rich in vitamin A and therefore make nutritious gari. The roasted gari are spread on a raised platform in the open air to cool and dry.
7. Sieving: The Gari is sieved to separate coarse particles, with a standard size sieve to produce fine granules. A grinder is used to break the large granules into smaller ones. The
8. Packaging: The gari are weighed and then packed for marketing.
Machinery and Equipment for Garri Processing
The major equipment for production of Gari are: Garifier, Grater, Hydraulic press, Granulator, Cone Blender, Vibro Sifter, Hammer mill with cyclone, Packaging Machine and weighing Machine. The cost of this equipment with capacity of 4 tonnes of Gari powder per day, including the cost of installation, can be made on request.
Investment potential of Garri Processing
Expert’s advice
Professor Kolawole Adebayo, Regional Coordinator of the Cassava: Adding Value for Africa (C:AVA), a value chain development project sponsored by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, explains to The Guardian that to start a standard small-scale gari processing business, there are three broad categories of requirements.
The first one is a building, while the second and the third are machinery and packaging materials respectively.
Adebayo said: “You will need an open sided building that allows you to receive fresh cassava roots directly from vehicles. Then, that building will be divided into two additional parts. There will be a wet section and a dry section.”
The wet section, Adebayo added, is the place where all the wet operations after peeling are done. The wet operations include washing, grating, fermentation and pressing. Then, the fermented and de-watered matter would be sieved or re-grated using the same grater or a separate one. Then the content is moved to the dry section.
The value chain development professor said the dry section starts with roasting, and ends with packaging. After the packaging, it is moved to the store or supermarkets. Well processed and properly packaged gari would last for at least one year.
The second elements are the equipment. Now, at a reasonable level of gari processing factory, where half a tonne of gari could be processed daily, a grater, about 500-1000kg capacity per hour, to grate freshly peeled cassava roots, would be needed.
Other machines and tools include a press, an automated or semi-automated fryer, a sieving machine and some huge special buckets for fermentation, in addition to packaging bags and sealers.
There are different types of the roasters or frying machines and they are semi-automated and fully automated ones. The semi-automated ones are gas fired, with a wide pan, but turning the gari requires manual inputs. However, in the automated frying, once the rotating arm is switched on, no manual input or turning is required until the gari is ready to be collected. The frying machine also comes with a thermometer to monitor and regulate the heat. So, both machines are available with different capacities.
Professor Adebayo said N700,000 to N750,000 is needed to acquire a 500kg-capacity electromechanical fryer. A processor also needs a sieve to separate the bigger gari from the smooth one, depending on how smooth one wants the gari. There are different kinds of vibrators that can help sieve it. And one can also do it manually if the production is micro-scale. A small-scale vibrator costs between N150,000 and N180,000.
“You can get grater from about N250,000 to N480,000, depending on the manufacturers. The press will range from about N150,000 to N200,000, depending on the kind of metal that is used. Another element is the hydraulic system that will go with it, because the hydraulic system is separate from the metal structure,” Adebayo explained to The Guardian.
The third requirements include the packaging machine and materials. The packaging material is determined by the size of the market a producer targets. Is it the 50kg market, the 5kg market or the 2kg market?
“At the 5kgs downwards, what I will recommend is just a sealing machine so that you can package 1kg, 2kg and 5kg of gari. If you are going for an automated packaging machine at this level of production, you will be under-utilising the capacity,” Adebayo advised.
“About N3 million will required for the equipment, apart from some funds for the building and running cost. You will need a generator and possibly a borehole or well as a source of reliable water,” he added.
Economics of garii processing
A well-packaged kilo of garri is sold for between N1500 and N2000. 20 per cent of N1500 is N300.
OTHER RELATED ARTICLES
- AGRO PROCESSING
- An Introduction to Tilapia Fish Farming
- Yam Production
- Cassava Production – Irresistible Farming guide, Economic potential and 5 trends.
- Cassava Starch Production | Market Demand |10 Essential Processing lines |
- Learn How To Transform Cassava Peels into Animal Feed
- Cassava processing video
- Cashew Production…Fascinating Market Trends
- Land Preparation Activities
- Feeding in aquaculture: 4 Simple but Important things you need to know
- An Introduction to Livestock Production
- How to make Your Own Animal Feeds (For Cattles and Sheep)
- Goat Production
- Turkey Production
- Rabbit Production
- Grasscutter Production
- Shrimp Farming
How can we help you?
EMAIL: senceagric@senceworld.com
REFRENCES
[i] Onabolu, A. (2001) Cassava processing, consumption and dietary cyanide exposure, Ph.D.
Thesis, Division of International Health, Department of Public health Services, Karolinska
Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
[ii] B. James, R. Okechukwu, A et.al. Producing Gari from Cassava An illustrated guide for smallholder cassava processors. www.iita.org
[iii] Curtsey of Federal Institute of Industrial Research, Oshodi, FIIRO, material on Mechanized Gari Production.
Disclaimer
All data and information provided on this site is for informational purposes only. agriculturenigeria.com makes no representations as to accuracy, completeness, correctness, suitability, or validity of any information on this site and will not be liable for any errors, omissions, or delays in this information or any losses, injuries, or damages arising from its display or use. All information is provided on an as-is basis.