Price of garri drops by 60 per cent in Enugu

The price of garri, the nation’s major staple, has dropped by more than 60 per cent in Enugu in the last four months.

A correspondent of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), who conducted a market survey on the staple yesterday, observed that the price had gone down from N1,250 to between N450 and N500 per paint bucket.

The paint bucket of four-litre is usually the standard measure for cereals in Southeast.

Many buyers, who bought the staple in markets in Enugu, said they were happy as they could get white garri for N450 and yellow garri for N500.

A buyer, who spoke to NAN, said she prayed the price could crash further, while another said it should continue at its current price.

The traders attributed the price crash to the current bumper harvest of cassava after many Nigerians had yielded the call to return to the farm.

A garri seller at Garki Market, Mrs Obioma Ukoh, said that many people went into cassava farming since last year and for that its price had drastically dropped.

“I pray people will continue to plant cassava. This way, there will be no reason to buy it as high as N1,250 again,” she said.

Mr James Ugwu, a teacher in one of the secondary schools in Enugu, also said the low price was the result of bumper harvests of cassava this year.

Ugwu, who NAN met at Kenyatta Market, said the price would not get higher anymore as everyone had learnt a lesson and many had gone back to farming.

A National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) member, Miss Ifeoma Ogbologu, who came for shopping at Akwata Market, said she was happy buying garri at N450 per paint bucket.

She added that it was not easy when the price was N1,250.