Today’s Agribusiness

Garri is a major Nigerian staple food processed from cassava tubers. It comes in granular form but once mixed in hot water turns into a smooth solid paste. Garri can be eaten in different forms but the most common is with assorted soup and meat.

It is not chewed like rice or yam but simply swallowed once dipped in the soup. It can be soaked in water and enhanced with sugar and milk and taken as a beverage.

Garri production has been going down considerably over the years because most of the village women who process it manually are abandoning it because of its drudgery and tedious nature.

The last administration sensitized Nigerians into planting more cassava and farmers responded positively and we are now the highest producers in the world. There is too much cassava and few processors.

Processing of Garri

Peeling: Gari processing starts with the peeling of the cassava where most of the cyanide resides. The skin of the cassava is made up of the outer thin papery layer and the leathery tough inner layer.

Peeling can be done mechanically or manually. Mechanical peelers are problematic because of the non-uniform nature of the cassava roots and the irregularity in size which make smooth peeling difficult. As a result of these problems, processors prefer manual peeling for now till the mechanical is perfected.

Grating: The washed tubers are taken to the Hammer Mill where they are grated. Proper grating disintegrates the root cells of the cassava tubers and releases the enzyme to act on its substrate thus initiating the process of fermentation and detoxification.

Fermentation: The bags are stacked in racks and depressed with hydraulic weight for three to five days to enable the liquid to drain out while fermentation takes place. Food scientists and garri experts have found that the sack-pressed method is the fastest and the best of the fermentation methods. The essence of fermenting the mash is to get rid of the hydrocyanic acid (HCN) which is natural in cassava tubers.

Pressing: The fermented mash in bags are stacked in the Hydraulic Jack Press and pressed mechanically to squeeze out the remaining fermented liquid.

Granulating: Granulating is breaking up the dewatered mash into small lumps to facilitate frying. The granulator is made of stainless steel and powered with a 7.5 hp motor; the capacity is 1 ton/hr.

Frying: The mash is emptied into the frying pot which is around the frying equipment of about 5ft in diameter with rotating flexible paddles or rakes for tuning the frying mash to prevent sticking and charring. It is made of stainless steel with 2hp gear motor and is fired with charcoal, firewood, gas etc. It is well ventilated with exhaust pipes and insulated with fibreglass.

Packaging: The garri is discharged from the duct in the garri frier and packaged in 5, 10 and 25kg bags stitched and stored in the storage area from where they are evacuated to the customers.

List of Machinery

• Stainless steel hammer mill
• Hydraulic jack (mechanical) press
• Stainless steel cake granulator
• Garri frying pot
• Generator
• Avery weighing scale
• Stitching machine
• Well or borehole for water
• Bags

You can package garri without passing through all these processes by buying processed ones from the villagers, refry it mechanically or semi-mechanically and package it into smaller polymer kg bags between 2kg to 10kg.

Agbaji can be reached at <learnder@gmail.com>

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