Brands live in a world of ever-changing expectations. Differentiating your brand by building and keeping trust and loyalty among consumers is increasingly dependent on social or environmental promises. Brands of the future anticipate, rather than just respond to, what consumers and customer want.

Garri fortified with Vitamin A is a new catch in Nigeria and only very few Garri producers in Nigeria know about this unique Vitamin A fortification opportunity.

Garri is not just a staple food in Nigeria but also a daily meal. Garri constitutes a daily meal to over 150 million people worldwide. It is a popular West African food. It could be compared to what potato flour is to the Westerners. It is even more versatile than that. It can be eaten as a snack (cassava flakes) in cold water on a very hot day, or cooked in hot water (cassava flour) to make a dough-like meal called “Eba.” You cannot claim to have eaten any West African food without having eaten Garri!

How to Process Cassava into Garri

Garri is traditionally made at home in Africa. It is increasingly becoming common to produce Garri in commercial quantities using mechanized means.

Garri is made from cassava, the tubers are harvested and peeled, removing the covering. The white pulp is grated in a garri grinding machine. Before the advent of machines, the cassava is hand grated. The grated produce is then put into a jute sack and the sack tied. Traditionally, this is left to ferment for three to seven days depending on the type of garri being made. This step is very important, as the fermentation process helps to reduce and detoxify the high cyanide content of cassava.

The garri filled sacks are stacked up on each other, and a wooden board placed below and above the sacks. The wooden boards are tied together with the sacks full of the grated cassava in between. Tension is created by tightening the rope and thus allowing water to run out of the grated cassava being processed.

Usually, by day three, the grated cassava would have lost quite some water and become reasonably dried. This step is also been by-passed with the use of machines that compress and squeeze water out of the grated cassava.

List of Equipment used for a Cassava Processing Plant

The cassava processing plant is a 5.HP capacity machine and can produce five (5) tons of grated cassava tubers. The major machinery required in the production of garri is the:

• Grating machine
• Hydraulic press
• Fryers

Other minor equipments required include knives/peelers, wheelbarrow, basins, etc. The machine in question produces high quality garri because most of the parts are made up of stainless steel. The price of the machine in question depending on the capacity ranges from N400, 000 and above.

Preliminary Expenses – N100, 000
Plant and Machinery – N400, 000
Accommodation – N200, 000
Utilities including project vehicle and generators – N850, 000
Working Capital – N200,000
Estimated Total – N1, 750,000

How to Fortify your GARRI with Vitamin A
Vitamin A is important to vision and the growth of the bones, Night vision is extremely dependent on vitamin A. This vitamin helps form pigments that allow our eyes to adjust to changes in light. Vitamin A plays an important role in immune system by making white blood cells, which fight off viruses and bacteria.

Vitamin A deficiency is a major health problem in Africa. But timely provision of vitamin A in food and supplements prevents blindness among pregnant women and children. We are in a knowledge economy where scientific knowledge capital is more important than financial capital. You can get your Vitamin A at Bio-Organics.

About Bio-Organics: Bio-Organics Nutrient Systems Limited located in Ibafo Ogun State is a Nigerian company that customizes and supplies vitamin and mineral premixes to the Nigerian Food, Beverage, Animal Health and Livestock Industries. Bio-Organics manufactures and distributes its own brand of nutrient-enriched blends using best manufacturing practices.

Bio-Organics is ISO 22000:2005 certified and is a certified supplier to the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) premixing facility. Bio-Organics has its cooperate office located in Lagos, Nigeria with regional offices in Ibadan, Kaduna, Benin, Jos and Aba.

The Market Potential of “Vitamin A Fortified” Garri

The market potential for garri is huge and stable. Why? The reason is because every day, an African or Nigerian somewhere is consuming the garri product. The market value of garri runs into billions of dollars every year. If you now fortified your Garri with vitamin, you are broadening your brand to appeal to additional consumer.

It is believed that in Nigeria, each family pays about N500 for a five-liter bucket of garri every week. Then the market potential is 25 million(household estimate) times N500, which is about N13 billion worth of garri being consumed every week from our open markets.

Food-packaging is an important facet of any food industry. It not only provides some protection from harmful agents, but also allows that food to be preserved for longer periods of time. You can package any of these products in 250 gram, 500 grams, 1kg or 2kg bags. With the population of over 150 million Nigerians, you will definitely make a lot of money and this will prepare you for the international market.

You can also sell to busy office executives, professionals, high-net worth individual, and supermarkets. The NAFDAC number on your product will give your food product more credibility in African foodstuff market in US and UK

Nigerian farmers can invest in cassava tubers that will produce Garri and make millions of naira. Nigeria farmers can now get a land lease for N5,000 a year per hectares and plant cassava, which will yield 30 tonnes and the 30 tonnes of Cassava will produce 10 tonnes of garri; which is N1,250,000. This goes a long way to show that if you add value to your product, you will make more money.