Nigeria remains the global leader in cassava production, experiencing a 10 per cent growth over five years, from 56.96 million tons in 2019 to 62.69 million tons in 2023.
However, industry analysts indicate that current production levels cannot meet the demands of manufacturing sectors seeking to enhance value-added processing.
Despite outproducing Brazil and generating nearly twice the output of Thailand and Indonesia combined, Nigeria’s cassava harvest is used primarily as a food source. More than 80 per cent of the population consumes garri (cassava flakes) and fufu regularly, while industrial applications account for less than 5 per cent of total production.
Industry stakeholders argue that this overwhelming domestic consumption creates challenges for scaling commercial processing operations.
“As processors, it is very difficult to compete with the person turning cassava into garri at the back of their farm,” said Sadiq Usman, Managing Director of Flour Mills Nigeria Agro, at the 2025 Agriconnect Summit.
“When manufacturing companies want to set up a processing business, they go to the Middle Belt. While they don’t produce as much cassava as the Southwest, they also don’t consume much garri,” he added.
Usman emphasised that industrial growth requires production that goes beyond basic consumption needs.
“Agricultural processors and agriculture can only thrive when there is a surplus. A nation needs to move beyond subsistence consumption before it can support industries.”
He shared Flour Mills’ experience attempting to manufacture High-Quality Cassava Flour (HQCF) as a wheat alternative for biscuits, pasta, and bread products, but operations ceased due to unreliable cassava availability.
The project, aligned with government initiatives to reduce wheat importation under the Cassava Master Plan, encountered obstacles because cassava products like garri remain deeply embedded in daily household meals. “It felt like we were competing against consumers,” he said.
According to available data, annual garri demand across Africa’s most populous country reaches approximately 1 million tons, while supply stands at just 250,000 tons, highlighting the significant consumption gap nationwide.
This dependence on cassava as a dietary staple has elevated its value for households above its potential as an industrial raw material.
Cassava is cultivated across the southeastern, southwestern, and central regions, often intercropped with other food crops. Nevertheless, only about 5 per cent of the total harvest is used for industrial processing—a stark contrast to Thailand’s approach of transforming cassava into major export commodities, including starch, pellets, and chips.
While Nigeria’s cassava output exceeds Thailand’s by over 50 per cent (30.61 million metric tons), the Southeast Asian nation achieves far higher productivity—20.61 tons per hectare compared to Nigeria’s 6.3 tons per hectare, according to 2023 FAOStat data.
Amidst the competition between household consumption and industrial needs, Dangiwa Philips, a cassava farmer in Ogun State, reports strong demand from processing facilities.
“I supply about 700,000 tons monthly to a particular processing company,” he said. “I don’t think value addition is the issue. The problem is the lack of an available market for processed products. A lot of Nigerians are poor, so they buy garri because it’s affordable.”
Supporting Philips’ perspective, Ola Olawale, a Lagos-based accountant, said: “I cannot imagine buying cassava in a form that is not garri or fufu. I’d rather stick to what I’m familiar with.”
Industry experts maintain that Nigeria’s cassava sector, valued at approximately ₦27.6 trillion, possesses untapped potential through strategic production enhancements and yield improvements to meet industrial demand for value-added processing.
Given annual production exceeding 60 million tons, stakeholders believe Nigeria can achieve higher yields through comprehensive diversification strategies and increased mechanisation.
“We need to look at diversification the same way we are doing in palm oil. It is high time we start climbing up the cassava value chain—and staying there,” Usman urged.
This approach gains urgency considering World Bank data showing 87 million Nigerians living in poverty, creating sustained demand for garri as one of the nation’s most affordable food options.
Addressing the need to move beyond subsistence farming, former President Olusegun Obasanjo emphasised agricultural modernisation as key to increasing food production during the Agriconnect Summit.
“It is high time we went beyond hoe and cutlass farming. We need to incorporate more youths into agriculture,” he said, adding that mechanised farming is essential for boosting output and building a viable cassava economy.
