Workshop SummaryPoints of interestBackgroundObjectivesOutcomesProgramList of Participants |
Gari Revolution Strategic Workshop: Roadmap to an Efficient Gari Processing System Ibadan, Nigeria, October 4-6, 2016
Organizers:
Dr. Claude M. Fauquet Director GCP21 CIAT, Apdo. Aereo 6713 Cali, Colombia Cell: +1-314-477-3973 Email: c.fauquet@cgiar.org Web: www.gcp21.org |
Dr. Graham Thiele Director CRP-RTB CIP, Apartado 1558, Lima 12, Peru Tel:+51-1-317-5335 Email: g.thiele@cgiar.org Web: http://www.rtb.cgiar.org/ |
Organizing Committee:
IITA |
Dr. Peter Kulakow Dr. Busie Maziya-Dixon |
CRP-L&F | Dr. Acho Okike |
CRP-RTB | Dr. Thierry Tran |
GCP21 | Dr. Claude M. Fauquet |
CAVA | Dr. Sanni Lateef |
NRI | Dr. Andrew Westby |
Workshop Summary:
Nigeria is the world’s largest producer of cassava with a
production of about 53 million Mt in 2014, which is
regularly increasing each year. Gari is the privileged
processed cassava food for a large proportion of the
Nigerian population as well as West Africa. Gari is the
subsistence cassava food by excellence in Nigeria, which is
produced, marketed and consumed almost entirely in a
traditional manner. The efficacy of processing is fairly low
with about 5 tons of fresh roots that are needed to produce
1 ton of gari. Gari is produced quasi entirely manually,
using every single day a very large population of women and
children, who are working in very difficult and unhealthy
conditions. Gari processing is a very large consumer of wood
to roast the gari and the pollution at the gari processing
market is incredibly high! Nigeria is producing more than 9
million Mt of gari, which are feeding millions of Nigerian
everyday, the system although polluting and poorly
efficient, is therefore working!
The cassava
transformation plan of Nigeria seeks to create a new
generation of cassava farmers, oriented towards commercial
production to generate a cassava production surplus
dedicated to specific value-added chains. The overarching
strategy of the cassava transformation plan is to turn the
cassava sector in Nigeria into a major player in local and
international flour, starch, sweeteners, ethanol and dried
chips markets by adopting improved production and processing
technologies by organizing producers and processors into
efficient value-added chains. In that regards the
involvement of FMARD to improve the gari processing system
in Nigeria would be indispensible.
One of the major
issues of cassava is its short shelf-life. Harvested roots
can remain fresh for processing for approximately 3 days,
meaning that during this period of time, farmers have to
harvest, roots have to be transported to the gari market and
the whole processing has to be performed. Once the
processing is done, gari can be stored for months! Gari is
therefore, among all the cassava products, a privileged
product allowing transportation in the cities and storage
time to be sold to the masses. Urbanization is increasing
very fast in Africa and if today only 5 countries have more
than 50% of their population in cities (Ghana, Nigeria,
Gabon, Congo and Angola), by 2050 most of the African
sub-saharan countries will have way more than 50% of their
population in cities. This will call for using food products
such as gari, therefore improving gari processing and
marketing today is working at food security for Africa by
2050!
Because gari is regularly consumed by millions
of people on a daily basis, it is also an excellent vehicle
to improve human nutrition in Nigeria and Africa. In
addition to calories African populations also need proteins,
minerals and vitamins. Cassava roots are very low in protein
content, minerals and vitamins and consequently gari is not
a very nutritive food. However, because gari is consumed
regularly by large populations, it is also an excellent
vehicle to improve the nutrition of these consumers. The
workshop will consider ways to improve the nutritional
qualities of gari and will define what steps should be
undertaken to make this a reality without changing the
texture and taste of gari.
Improving the existing
gari processing system and its nutritional quality in
Nigeria will require the involvement of a variety of
scientists and developers in a chain of interventions from
the roots to the plate of the consumers. The main objective
of this workshop if therefore to establish a detailed
RoadMap of all the necessary actions required to: 1-
increase the efficacy of gari processing and 2- increase the
nutritional value of gari for millions if consumers.
The Global Cassava Partnership for the 21st Century
(GCP21), the Nigerian Federal Ministry of Agriculture and
Rural Development (FMARD), the CGIAR research programs on
Roots, Tubers and Bananas (RTB), Livestock and Fish, and
Agriculture for Human Nutrition (A4HN), and the National
Resource Institute (NRI), have common interests in the
improvement of the gari processing system in Nigeria as well
as the nutritional quality of gari to improve the health of
the consumers. These organizations are partnering to
organize a workshop entitled: Gari Revolution Workshop:
Roadmap to an Efficient Gari Processing System, IITA,
Ibadan, October 5-7, 2016, to ask the question: What is the
best way to improve the processing efficacy and nutritional
quality of gari in Nigeria?
The workshop is timely to
prepare in concrete terms some of the activities of the RTB
Phase II research program, to be launched in January 2017.
In particular the conclusions of the workshop can support
the flagship product FP4 Nutritious RTB foods and value
added through post-harvest innovation, which includes
significant work on improving gari processing in relation
with consumers preferences, as part of the cluster of
activities CA4.2 Cassava processing.
The
short-term outcomes/impacts expected are:
- A
roadmap to improve the efficacy of gari processing
- A
pilot project to demonstrate the application of the roadmap
- An action plan to extend the improvement from a pilot
project to the whole Nigeria
The long-term
outcomes/impacts expected are:
1- A more
efficient gari processing system from 20 to 30% or more
2- An improved ecological impact of gari processing
3- An
impact of a more nutritional gari on Nigerian populations
4- An extension of the Nigeria example to West Africa or the
whole Africa
Points of interest to discuss:
Cassava root with high dry matter content
It is obvious that the efficacy of gari processing is
strictly correlated to the dry matter content (DMC) of the
cassava roots used for the processing. During the rainy
season, the DMC of cassava roots reaching the market, is
close to 20%. There are many cassava cultivars that have
much higher DMC (above 35%), but not all the cassava CVs
have the capacity to produce “high quality” gari. Trading of
cassava roots is done by volume (truck load) and not by DMC,
but the cassava processing industry managed to impose the
use of the DMC to determine the price of the roots, this
would have to be done and accepted by cassava producers and
gari processors.
Gari processing
equipment
For decades gari processing
equipment has been improved and should be now available to
gari processors. Of particular interest are the graters that
will define the “grain” of the produced gari, and the
interactions between the grating and roasting operations in
determining the particle size distribution of the final
product. Roasters should be improved to reach an homogenous
temperature and should use less wood or an alternative
source of energy. Cost and availability of this equipment
should be discussed.
Organization and
Management
Gari processing markets are not
organized, facilities are very poor and should be improved
to allow workers to work in better conditions and gari to be
stored in acceptable conditions. Organization of gari
markets should also include management of waste and
associations should have more financial power. Training of
personnel should be part of the plan.
Access to small loans
Gari processors do
not have access to small and cheap loans to buy better
equipment, build facilities and supplies at better costs.
Policy and banks should be involved to make this a reality.
Economy and Access to market information
Cassava producers should be paid by DMC and should benefit
the gari processing efficacy increase. Evaluation of the
gari production economy should be evaluated and monitored
regularly. Prices of gari on market gari and in the cities
are highly variable, access to market values should be
accessible by gari producers.
Ecological
impact of gari processing
Organization of
gari processing markets, collect of cassava waste (peels and
effluents) should be organized to allow their use in other
value chains, and use of alternative sources of energy for
the gari roasters should decrease the ecological impact of
gari processing. The use of cassava waste generated by gari
processing should clean-up the gari markets, should improve
the working conditions of workers and should generate new
sources of revenue for gari makers.
Gender/Children issues in gari processing
Increasing the gari processing efficacy, using modern
efficient equipment, improving facilities should immediately
impact on the quality of life of people working in these
markets and should free the children from un-efficient hand
work, who could go back to school.
Nutritional qualities of gari
In theory it
should be easy to improve the nutritional quality of gari by
adding soybean flour to improve protein content (super gari)
and by adding mineral and vitamin complements to increase
iron, zinc and pro-vitamin contents (biofortified gari). The
use of yellow cassava roots could also be discussed to
increase the pro-vitamin A content. Economical issues and
shelf life of complements should be discussed.
Marketing issues in gari production
The marketing of gari is fairly complex and not well known.
The multitude of gari production sites, the multitude of
gari traders and the different markets across the country
are complicating the problem. These different aspects and
socio-economic impacts should be discussed during the
workshop.
Cassava producer and Gari
processor cooperatives
The possibility to
organize cassava producers and gari processors in
cooperatives will be addressed and discussed to evaluate the
possible gain and impact on the whole system. Cassava
producer cooperative could bargain better sales prices for
their roots, they could undertake transportation and thereby
decrease transportation costs. Gari processors could easier
access loans to buy equipment, they could have their own
financial loans, they could bargain sales prices of their
gari products and share the amortization and maintenance of
facilities.
Gari trader associations and
marketing issues
Marketing issues of gari
are quite complex in Nigeria and would merit optimization
through associations and information, to reduce
transportation costs and reduce price range of gari across
the country and locations.
Objective of the meeting
The primary objective of the workshop is to establish, with the contribution of a set of recognized experts, a Roadmap to an Efficient Gari Processing System, involving all the aspects of the gari processing and marketing chain from the roots to the plate. This roadmap when finalized and agreed by all participants would be published to become a reference for the community to generate R&D projects and for donors to fund these projects. The roadmap will also serve a trigger to generate a new approach for cassava genetic improvement towards breeding by design to target a very important cassava food market. Although the workshop will be convened in Nigeria, which is hosting the largest gari market in Africa, it will also serve as a reference for other countries where gari is growing in importance. As gari, a relatively cheap food made from cassava, can be shelved for a long period of time, it seems to be a privileged cassava processed food to best respond to the population explosion and urbanization in Africa.
Background: The purpose of this workshop, is not a scientific exchange of information, but rather identify together, what should be done to greatly improve the Gari processing in quantity and quality in the near future and the livelihoods of those involved. GCP21 convenes a broad range of actors around gari to stimulate action for change.
Of special interest is the development of the TAAT program (Technologies for the African Agricultural Transformation) by the AfDB to begin in 2017. Gari being such an important food for Africa in the present and future, it is obvious that it will be an important component of this very important program for Africa and we will have a TAAT representative to give us an introduction. Additionally, this workshop will build on the process of results based management led by RTB with IITA and other partners for small and medium scale cassava processing in Nigeria.
Objectives:
(1)
Identify key trends in demand for gari
(2) Describe current state of knowledge and critical gaps in gari processing
(3) Prepare draft Roadmap for next steps to improve gari processing and livelihoods
(4) Identify elements of a multi-institutional R&D project to put the Roadmap at work in the real world
PROGRAM
Tuesday 4 OCT:
9:00 am: Opening: Godwin Atser (Master of Ceremonies)
9:05 am:
Welcome: Hilde Koper (DDG Corporate Services, IITA)
9:15 am: Introduction of participants (Your name and affiliation, In one sentence, what do we need to do to achieve the Gari Revolution?):
Claude Fauquet (GCP21)
9:30 am: Review of agenda - Claude
Fauquet (GCP21) -
PDF
TOPIC 1: Trends and prospective demand for gari – overview
9:45 am: Market studies and prospective demand - Sanni Lateef (FUNAAB)
-
PDF
10:05 am: Commentators - Segun Ayeni (FMARD)
10:15 am: Q&A
10:30
am: TAAT Program and Gari Processing - Taofik Shittu (Federal University of Agriculture) - Abass Adebayo (IITA)
-
PDF
10:45 am: Q&A
11:00 am: Coffee Break
11:30 am: RTB approach to improve gari processing, value chain and livelihoods
- Graham Thiele (RTB) - Thierry Tran (CIRAD) - Busie Maziya-Dixon (IITA)
- PDF
11:45 am: Q&A
TOPIC 2: Hygiene, environment, safety, waste to wealth, livestock feed
12:00 pm: Update: High quality peels for animal feed -
Iheanacho Okike (Livestock & Fish-ILRI) -
PDF
12:20 pm:
Commentators - Adenjii Kolawole (NijiLukas Co.)
12:35 pm: Q&A
1:00 pm: Lunch
TOPIC 3: Processing efficiency: traditional versus industrial, equipment
2:00 pm: Model peeling and gari processing - Peter Kolawole (IITA)
- PDF
2:10 pm: Diffusion of industrial gari processing in Nigeria - Thierno Diallo (IITA)
-
PDF
2:20 pm: Lesson learned from small and medium gari processing - Andrew Westby (NRI)
-
PDF
2:35 pm: Post-harvest innovation and energy efficiency - Thierry Tran (CIRAD-CIAT)
- PDF
2:50 pm:
Commentators - Adenjii Kolawole (NijiLukas Co.) - Segun Olukanmi (Trustmichael Nig. Ltd.)
3:05 pm: Q&A
3:20 pm: Dry matter content and processing improvement - Stefan Hauser (IITA)
-
PDF
3:30
pm: Coffee
4:00 pm: Cassava cultivars for Gari - Peter Kulakow (IITA)
-
PDF
4:10 pm: Screening of cassava quality traits for processing ability and user’s preferences - Dominique Dufour (CIRAD-CIAT)
- PDF
4:25 pm: Commentators
- Sanni Lateef and Hemant Nitturkar (RTB)
4:40 pm: Q&A
5:00 pm: Wrap up - Graham Thiele
7:00 pm: Cocktail -
Cappa Bar
Wednesday 5 OCT:
8:30 am: Plan for the day - Claude/Graham
TOPIC 5: Security and nutrition: food security issues, storage, packaging
8:45 am: Update: food safety and nutrition of Gari -
Busie - PDF
9:00 am: Update: WISHH has and "Super-Gari" - Josh Niederman (WISHH) - Noli Jocson (WISHH)
-
PDF
9:15 am: Update: yellow cassava in Nigeria and HarvestPlus - Paul Ilona (A4HN)
9:30
am: Update: Need and cost of gari fortification - Francis Aminu (GAIN)
9:45 am: Commentators and Q&A - Honorable Oguzu Lee Lewis (Parliament of Uganda)
TOPIC 6: Gender issues, equity job loss and creation, employment
10:15
am: Gender considerations in gari processing - Lora Forsythe (NRI)
-
PDF
10:30 am:
Q&A
10:45 am: Coffee and Group Photograph
TOPIC
7: Microcredit, financing, economy, access to technical support, cooperatives
11:15 am: Update: micro loans and financing prospects for gari makers - Kurawa Farouk (MARKETS II)
-
PDF
11:30 am: Update: cooperatives and gari processing and marketing - Makinde Kahinde (AGRA)
-
PDF
11:45 am: Q&A
TOPIC 8: Roadmap
12:15 pm: Landscape analysis of gari processing - Nathalie Ebo
(Sahel Consult and Context Network)
-
PDF
12:30 pm:
Q&A
1:00 pm: Lunch
Working Groups
2:00 pm: Organization of working groups
Four parallel working groups:
1. Gari quality, standards and dry matter content
-
PPT
2a. Processing technologies and value chain for large processers
-
PPT
2b. Processing technologies and value chain for small scale and community processers
- PPT
3. Waste to wealth and environmental management
- PPT
-
DOC
4. Enhanced nutrition, food quality and hygiene
-
PPT
3:30
pm: Coffee
4:00 pm: Working groups cont.
5:20 pm: Wrap
up - Graham Thiele
5:30 pm: Optional tour of IITA Cassava Processing Center
Thursday 6 OCT:
8:30 am: Plan for the day - Claude
8:45 am: Feedback group 1: Gari quality, standards and dry matter content - Dominique - Dufour
9:00 am:
Q&A
9:15 am: Feedback group 2a: Processing innovation and value chain for large processers - Lateef Sanni
9:30
am: Q&A
9:45 am: Feedback group 2b. Processing technologies and value chain for small scale and community processers - Kolawole Adebayo - Thierry Tran
10:00 am: Q&A
10:15 am:
Feedback group 3: Waste to wealth and environmental management - Iheanacho Okike
10:30 am: Coffee
11:00
am: Q&A
11:15 am: Feedback group 5: Enhanced nutrition, food safety and hygiene - Busie Maziya-Dixon
11:30 am: Q&A
11:45 am: Present draft Roadmap - Claude
-
PPT
12:00 pm:
Key actions for Roadmap - Claude - Peter
12:15 pm: Workshop wrap up, vote of thanks and close - Peter
PARTICIPANTS - PDF