SPECIAL REPORT: Despite huge spending over decades, Nigeria unable to produce enough cassava
Farmers, experts and data explain why cassava, one of Nigeria’s most iconic foods, perennially remains insufficient and expensive.
Grace Ebit, a farmer in Ibogo, Biase Local Government Area of
Cross River State, recalls her childhood with nostalgia. After her father lost his job in the mid-1960s, she dropped out of school and the family struggled to get food.
Her distraught father began to grow cassava and processed garri. That became the turning point.
“The business became big to the extent that we barely had free time to rest. Traders came from different states to buy garri in large quantities from us,” Mrs Ebit said.