Members of an agribusiness group, under the aegies of Pacesetter Premium Cassava Merchants and Value Chain Association (PAPCAMAVA) in Ogun and Oyo State have raised serious concern over what the association described as near total collapse in farmgate prices of raw Cassava which is threatening rural livelihood of farmers and investors and long-term food security system in Nigeria that requires coordinated urgent intervention of Federal Government, industrial off-takers and financial institutions to protect the investors'huge investment from sustained losses in the past two years
President of the association, Mrs Jokotoye Kehinde who raised the alarm on Thursday at a press conference in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, revealed that between May 2024 and May 2026 raw Cassava farmgate prices across Oyo and Ogun States plummeted from N220,000 per tonne to an alarming N5,000 per cent -representing 97.7 % decline that has left farmers struggling to recover basic cultivation costs
The association recalled the comments of National President of the Nigeria Cassava Growers Association, Dr Mustapha Bakano who raised similar alarm as regards the production costs of almost N1.5 million per hectare while raw Cassava was trading at just N30,000 and N40,000 per tonne in the Northern hubs and another similar experience of local producers in Imeko, Ogun State who shared experiences of pickup loads of Cassava that previously commanded N300,000-N500,000 collapsing to under N70,000
According to the data presented by the association, Garri retail price per kilogram from the factory dropped from N1,500 to N750 between the two years period under review
PAPCAMAVA blamed the market crisis in the Cassava value chain on a structural value chain imbalance driven by unco-ordinated expansion following earlier high price cycles leading to concentrated harvest gluts, insufficient domestic processing infrastructure (starch, ethanol and flour) to absorb peak tuber supply, high transportation and mechanized harvesting costs frequently surpassing the farmgate value of the raw crop and competition from cheaper subsidized grain imports and alternative starches weakening industrial root demand
The association is calling on government to implement a six-point policy direction that will address the market crisis within the Cassava value-chain which includes the need to establish binding off-taker linkages with starch, ethanol and HQCF processors
PAPCAMAVA is calling for Macro policy coherence by government that will align import tariffs and commodity policies to protect domestic Cassava processing, in addition to a policy on a structured credit facilities reflecting Cassava's 10-14 month biological cycle
The Cassava Merchants stressed the importance of decentralization of primary processing in order to eliminate perishable root gluts while strengthening collective bargaining and bulk aggregation through producer platform amongst other recommendations to address the worrisome situation in the market
The association despite huge losses in the market, demonstrated its members capacity to overcome market paralysis, leveraging capacity development from GIZ , a German agency under Sustainable Agricultural System and Policies (AgSys) project and GOPA-AFC Agriculture and Finance Consultants, by building a 10- hectare commercial model farm at Igbo-Aje , Ayetoro in Yewa North Local Government Area of Ogun State fully funded by members
According to Jokotoye, PAPCAMAVA as an association safe guarded over 120 farmers and protected more than 500 hectares of productive farmland from destruction, by engaging directly with the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Nigeria Police Force and Oyo State Amotekun Corps , traditional rulers and Fulani pastoralist leaders
The association recommended the security model for government and other stakeholders across the country to adopt the system as Nigeria approaches this year's edition of World Food Day
Other top officials of the association at the press conference included Vice-President, Engr. Fawole Folorunso, General Secretary, Emmanuel Dada , Public Relations Officer, Adeleke Ogunlade, Financial Secretary, Joseph Adenekan and Technical Advisor, GOPA
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