After Cultivating over 100 Acres of Cassava, selling it has been very difficult.

We didn't just find ourself in the mess, we planted based on Companies promise to pick it up when it's ready for harvest.

We planted at a time when a Tonne of Cassava sells for #70,000 and a Congo of Gaari sells for #500.

Fast forward to harvest time, the price has crashed. One (1)Tonne sells for as low as #15,000 and a Congo of Gaari sells for #100.

Companies refused to come down to pick it because they have farmers begging to supply them at their factory.

I tried supplying two different companies, I realized that the money spent in harvesting and transporting the Cassava to the company supercedes total sales made. Eg, I spend as high as #250,000 to harvest and transport 30 Tonnes of Cassava to the Company. They buy the 30 Tons Cassava for #450,000. Meaning I made sales of #200,000 for a Cassava that's worth 2.1 Million Naira.

***Even though I have a signed contract with one of the Companies, to supply 2000 Tonnes of Cassava every Month but the cost of hauling it down is the Challenge

The alternative was to
*process the Cassava into finished product (Gaari ). But it requires having one's factory.

*Or to buy a personal truck, since the haulage is what takes away larger part of the profit.

Lesson learnt.

I have decided to desist from planting perishable crops (Cassava, Watermelon, Cucumber etc) in LARGE QUANTITY.

I planted Maize, Melon, Soyabeans, Beans etc. I discovered that these crops are preservable and can be stored for a long time till one gets a desirable price to sell.

Way forward on the present Cassava on ground

*I need assistance of logistics company that can lease out their Truck for us at a cheaper price to convey the Cassava to the Company.

*I need partners in establishing a Gaari processing factory in my area. We have raw material (Cassava) in VERY LARGE quantity wasting away.

Can I have the sticks? Like 1500 bundles?

healthserve:
Can I have the sticks? Like 1500 bundles?

of you don't mind the distance. You can chat me up. Number on my profile

agbajesaid:
of you don't mind the distance. You can chat me up. Number on my profile

Okay Sir. Thanks

agbajesaid:
of you don't mind the distance. You can chat me up. Number on my profile

whats your location and what specie of cassva is it

agbajesaid:
After Cultivating over 100 Acres of Cassava, selling it has been very difficult.

We didn't just find ourself in the mess, we planted based on Companies promise to pick it up when it's ready for harvest.

We planted at a time when a Tonne of Cassava sells for #70,000 and a Congo of Gaari sells for #500.

Fast forward to harvest time, the price has crashed. One (1)Tonne sells for as low as #15,000 and a Congo of Gaari sells for #100.

Companies refused to come down to pick it because they have farmers begging to supply them at their factory.

I tried supplying two different companies, I realized that the money spent in harvesting and transporting the Cassava to the company supercedes total sales made. Eg, I spend as high as #250,000 to harvest and transport 30 Tonnes of Cassava to the Company. They buy the 30 Tons Cassava for #450,000. Meaning I made sales of #200,000 for a Cassava that's worth 2.1 Million Naira.

***Even though I have a signed contract with one of the Companies, to supply 2000 Tonnes of Cassava every Month but the cost of hauling it down is the Challenge

The alternative was to
*process the Cassava into finished product (Gaari ). But it requires having one's factory.

*Or to buy a personal truck, since the haulage is what takes away larger part of the profit.

Lesson learnt.

I have decided to desist from planting perishable crops (Cassava, Watermelon, Cucumber etc) in LARGE QUANTITY.

I planted Maize, Melon, Soyabeans, Beans etc. I discovered that these crops are preservable and can be stored for a long time till one gets a desirable price to sell.

Way forward on the present Cassava on ground

*I need assistance of logistics company that can lease out their Truck for us at a cheaper price to convey the Cassava to the Company.

*I need partners in establishing a Gaari processing factory in my area. We have raw material (Cassava) in VERY LARGE quantity wasting away.

My Garri factory is of 2 equipments.I have 2 graters,2,sifters,8 manual fryers,2 pressers.I can lease 1 of these equipments to you for a 6 weeks to process your garri

MDDarah84:


My Garri factory is of 2 equipments.I have 2 graters,2,sifters,8 manual fryers,2 pressers.I can lease 1 of these equipments to you for a 6 weeks to process your garri

i guess you are in Oyo State. Transporting it to your location is added cost that sucks out sales. I guess you understand my point sir

greenmonk:

whats your location and what specie of cassva is it

Osun State. We have different varieties. 419 included

OP,
Well, you have just learnt some lessons that people like me have been preaching here for a long time, and others too.

a) Prices of crops in Nigeria have seasonal variation. Cassava, palm oil, maize, etc are examples. Nigeria has no commodity boards that buy from farmers at guaranteed prices the way it is done in the West. They became cesspools of corruption and were scrapped by either PMB or IBB in the 80s(one of them. Dunno who). Since then farmers have been on their own.

b) Cassava has a peculiar situation. Once harvested, it rots in 72 hours. So the cassava farmer is at the mercy of the companies and their middlemen. Even if u sign an agreement to supply at a specific price, a company can renege and u will bankrupt your little savings feeding lawyers, court registrars and the police trying to get justice.

Some middlemen and processors actually wait until u have harvested. After day 2 and u are in dire straits, they show up and offer ridiculous prices. You then have 24 hours to take it or lose everything. Time decay becomes an issue to contend with.

This is why I always say: never plant cassava without a processing plan. You should either setup your own gari or fufu processing factory, or arrange with a processor to use their facility to do it. Partner with other farmers, pool funds together and setup your own facilities. Must be no more than 10km radius from your farms.

The act of even drying cassava into cassava cakes will prolong the shelf life. You can then process the cakes further.

If you know what gari is sold for in West African countries, you will be shocked.

You have learnt your lesson. Sorry about the disappointments.

WAY FORWARD
If you still have unharvested cassava, please arrange for local women to process it all into gari for you. The emphasis now is on capital preservation, not profit making. Then sell you gari when prices pick up a little. Red gari can stay up to a year under proper storage.

Do this and live to fight another day.

stagger:
OP,
Well, you have just learnt some lessons that people like me have been preaching here for a long time, and others too.

a) Prices of crops in Nigeria have seasonal variation. Cassava, palm oil, maize, etc are examples. Nigeria has no commodity boards that buy from farmers at guaranteed prices the way it is done in the West. They became cesspools of corruption and were scrapped by either PMB or IBB in the 80s(one of them. Dunno who). Since then farmers have been on their own.

b) Cassava has a peculiar situation. Once harvested, it rots in 72 hours. So the cassava farmer is at the mercy of the companies and their middlemen. Even if u sign an agreement to supply at a specific price, a company can renege and u will bankrupt your little savings feeding lawyers, court registrars and the police trying to get justice.

Some middlemen and processors actually wait until u have harvested. After day 2 and u are in dire straits, they show up and offer ridiculous prices. You then have 24 hours to take it or lose everything. Time decay becomes an issue to contend with.

This is why I always say: never plant cassava without a processing plan. You should either setup your own gari or fufu processing factory, or arrange with a processor to use their facility to do it. Partner with other farmers, pool funds together and setup your own facilities. Must be no more than 10km radius from your farms.

The act of even drying cassava into cassava cakes will prolong the shelf life. You can then process the cakes further.

If you know what gari is sold for in West African countries, you will be shocked.

You have learnt your lesson. Sorry about the disappointments.

WAY FORWARD
If you still have unharvested cassava, please arrange for local women to process it all into gari for you. The emphasis now is on capital preservation, not profit making. Then sell you gari when prices pick up a little. Red gari can stay up to a year under proper storage.

Do this and live to fight another day.

lesson learnt in a hard way. The way forward is to Set up a Gaari factory.
And even if a Tonne of Cassava sells for 1 Million Naira, I ain't planting it again.
It's better to go for the preservable crops.

agbajesaid:
After Cultivating over 100 Acres of Cassava, selling it has been very difficult.

We didn't just find ourself in the mess, we planted based on Companies promise to pick it up when it's ready for harvest.

We planted at a time when a Tonne of Cassava sells for #70,000 and a Congo of Gaari sells for #500.

Fast forward to harvest time, the price has crashed. One (1)Tonne sells for as low as #15,000 and a Congo of Gaari sells for #100.

Companies refused to come down to pick it because they have farmers begging to supply them at their factory.

I tried supplying two different companies, I realized that the money spent in harvesting and transporting the Cassava to the company supercedes total sales made. Eg, I spend as high as #250,000 to harvest and transport 30 Tonnes of Cassava to the Company. They buy the 30 Tons Cassava for #450,000. Meaning I made sales of #200,000 for a Cassava that's worth 2.1 Million Naira.

***Even though I have a signed contract with one of the Companies, to supply 2000 Tonnes of Cassava every Month but the cost of hauling it down is the Challenge

The alternative was to
*process the Cassava into finished product (Gaari ). But it requires having one's factory.

*Or to buy a personal truck, since the haulage is what takes away larger part of the profit.

Lesson learnt.

I have decided to desist from planting perishable crops (Cassava, Watermelon, Cucumber etc) in LARGE QUANTITY.

I planted Maize, Melon, Soyabeans, Beans etc. I discovered that these crops are preservable and can be stored for a long time till one gets a desirable price to sell.

Way forward on the present Cassava on ground

*I need assistance of logistics company that can lease out their Truck for us at a cheaper price to convey the Cassava to the Company.

*I need partners in establishing a Gaari processing factory in my area. We have raw material (Cassava) in VERY LARGE quantity wasting away.

I dont think that you have learnt the real lessons. The way forward you are proposing is still a mistake.

In cassava cultivation, you make your profit if you calculate with a realistic sales price.

You seem like you are a victim of sweet talking Internet farm consultants. How will someone tell you that cassava will sell for 70,000 naira per ton? It will never happen and has never happened.

Turning large scale cassava farm into garri is the next mistake that you are about to make. Garri making is a slow process, it is capital intensive also, you will spend up to 40% of the garri sales revenue on paying the workers who process the garri.

The bad part is that garri processing is slow. So your 100 acres of cassava will take months to process. The cassava in the farm will go bad within the months that your are processing.

After spending months to process the garri, you will find that it is difficult to get the bulk money from the garri sales.

Take the cassava to the factory and collect the 200,000 naira profit per trip. Use this method to try to recover your expenses on the farm before the cassava goes bad in the ground.

ogb5:


I dont think that you have learnt the real lessons. The way forward you are proposing is still a mistake.

In cassava cultivation, you make your profit if you calculate with a realistic sales price.

You seem like you are a victim of sweet talking Internet farm consultants. How will someone tell you that cassava will sell for 70,000 naira per ton? It will never happen and has never happened.

Turning large scale cassava farm into garri is the next mistake that you are about to make. Garri making is a slow process, it is capital intensive also, you will spend up to 40% of the garri sales revenue on paying the workers who process the garri.

The bad part is that garri processing is slow. So your 100 acres of cassava will take months to process. The cassava in the farm will go bad within the months that your are processing.

After spending months to process the garri, you will find that it is difficult to get the bulk money from the garri sales.

Take the cassava to the factory and collect the 200,000 naira profit per trip. Use this method to try to recover your expenses on the farm before the cassava goes bad in the ground.

Thank you very much sir. I wasn't sweet talked by any dark consultant. I have sold Cassava at even #80,000 per Ton before. So the #70,000 was just the average price.
As regards the Gaari, I chose it as an alternative because:
1) Companies too can be funny sometimes. Sometimes they take Weeks to pay. Other times, they frustrate is to the extent of abandoning goods with them without pay at all.
2) I have had cases whereby the Truck got spoilt on the road and we spent over 5 days to repair it. By Tue time we got to the Company, the Cassava has spoilt and it was rejected.
Both options has its advantages and disadvantages.

ogb5:


I dont think that you have learnt the real lessons. The way forward you are proposing is still a mistake.

In cassava cultivation, you make your profit if you calculate with a realistic sales price.

You seem like you are a victim of sweet talking Internet farm consultants. How will someone tell you that cassava will sell for 70,000 naira per ton? It will never happen and has never happened.

Turning large scale cassava farm into garri is the next mistake that you are about to make. Garri making is a slow process, it is capital intensive also, you will spend up to 40% of the garri sales revenue on paying the workers who process the garri.

The bad part is that garri processing is slow. So your 100 acres of cassava will take months to process. The cassava in the farm will go bad within the months that your are processing.

After spending months to process the garri, you will find that it is difficult to get the bulk money from the garri sales.

Take the cassava to the factory and collect the 200,000 naira profit per trip. Use this method to try to recover your expenses on the farm before the cassava goes bad in the ground.

Cassava doesn't spoil if not harvested! There was a time prices of all foodstuff went up in the country, attracting many farmers/investors. Leading to overproduction which led to present low prices of foods in the country.

ogb5:


I dont think that you have learnt the real lessons. The way forward you are proposing is still a mistake.

In cassava cultivation, you make your profit if you calculate with a realistic sales price.

You seem like you are a victim of sweet talking Internet farm consultants. How will someone tell you that cassava will sell for 70,000 naira per ton? It will never happen and has never happened.

Turning large scale cassava farm into garri is the next mistake that you are about to make. Garri making is a slow process, it is capital intensive also, you will spend up to 40% of the garri sales revenue on paying the workers who process the garri.

The bad part is that garri processing is slow. So your 100 acres of cassava will take months to process. The cassava in the farm will go bad within the months that your are processing.

After spending months to process the garri, you will find that it is difficult to get the bulk money from the garri sales.

[b]Take the cassava to the factory and collect the 200,000 naira profit per trip. [/b]Use this method to try to recover your expenses on the farm before the cassava goes bad in the ground.

You sound like one of the internet farmers. If a factory is not within 10 km radius of his farm, not only will his logistics cost make any profits he will make of no consequence, he risks the cassava load getting spoilt if the truck or vehicle breaks down on our bad roads. Have you ever taken a trip to a farm on a real bad road? I have been there. Trust me: it is not something you want to even try.

Thank God he has already answered the question by posting his road transport experience with his cassava.

stagger:


You sound like one of the internet farmers. If a factory is not within 10 km radius of his farm, not only will his logistics cost make any profits he will make of no consequence, he risks the cassava load getting spoilt if the truck or vehicle breaks down on our bad roads. Have you ever taken a trip to a farm on a real bad road? I have been there. Trust me: it is not something you want to even try.

Thank God he has already answered the question by posting his road transport experience with his cassava.

50 acres will yield an average of 500 tonnes.Processing this to garri will be around 125 tonnes.

For a factory of 2 tonnes/day capacity,you could process this within 3 months.

I combine garri with elubo production in my factory,I could do this within 2 months.
You may use the same strategy

OP very sorry for your disappointing experience with cassava.
Thank you for sharing this as it will help other active and prospective farmers to learn
Wish you a pleasant surprise in recovering your capital and profits

stagger:


You sound like one of the internet farmers. If a factory is not within 10 km radius of his farm, not only will his logistics cost make any profits he will make of no consequence, he risks the cassava load getting spoilt if the truck or vehicle breaks down on our bad roads. Have you ever taken a trip to a farm on a real bad road? I have been there. Trust me: it is not something you want to even try.

Thank God he has already answered the question by posting his road transport experience with his cassava.

I will overlook your comment on internet farmer this time.

From the OP writeup he has calculated the logistic cost to the factory. by his calculation, he will spend 250,000 naira to harvest and transport 30 tons of cassava to the factory and he will sell at 450,000 naira for the 30 tons which will give him a balance of 200,000 naira per 30 ton trip.

I assume that by his writeup, the cassava is already 18 months old, from 12 months the starch content of the cassava starts to drop.

The OP said he has sold cassava at 80,000 naira per ton previously?
Have you seen anybody who sold fresh cassava at even 50,000 naira per ton before?
Maybe he was hoping to sell to a government company that runs on subvention from the govt.

MDDarah84:


50 acres will yield an average of 500 tonnes.Processing this to garri will be around 125 tonnes.

For a factory of 2 tonnes/day capacity,you could process this within 3 months.

I combine garri with elubo production in my factory,I could do this within 2 months.
You may use the same strategy

You already have the factory, the workers and the experience to turn cassava into the garri and elubo, the OP does not have the factory setup yet, his cassava is overdue for harvest. Do you think he really have the time now for factory setup and going through the learning curve of cassava processing?

The best option for him is to sell the cassava to the factory or move it to an existing factory for processing into finish product. If he wanted to process cassava he should have had his factory built long before the cassava was ready for harvest and should have been doing some form of processing before now.

In some situations, half bread is better than none.

mfm04622:

Cassava doesn't spoil if not harvested! There was a time prices of all foodstuff went up in the country, attracting many farmers/investors. Leading to overproduction which led to present low prices of foods in the country.

Cassava doesn't spoil if not harvested? have you planted cassava before?

Go and grow cassava and leave it for 2 years before harvest and come back to tell us the yield you will get on a dry weight basis and compare it to the yield others will get if they harvest within 12-15 months.

ogb5:


I will overlook your comment on internet farmer this time.

From the OP writeup he has calculated the logistic cost to the factory. by his calculation, he will spend 250,000 naira to harvest and transport 30 tons of cassava to the factory and he will sell at 450,000 naira for the 30 tons which will give him a balance of 200,000 naira per 30 ton trip.

I assume that by his writeup, the cassava is already 18 months old, from 12 months the starch content of the cassava starts to drop.

The OP said he has sold cassava at 80,000 naira per ton previously?
Have you seen anybody who sold fresh cassava at even 50,000 naira per ton before?
Maybe he was hoping to sell to a government company that runs on subvention from the govt.



You already have the factory, the workers and the experience to turn cassava into the garri and elubo, the OP does not have the factory setup yet, his cassava is overdue for harvest. Do you think he really have the time now for factory setup and going through the learning curve of cassava processing?

The best option for him is to sell the cassava to the factory or move it to an existing factory for processing into finish product. If he wanted to process cassava he should have had his factory built long before the cassava was ready for harvest and should have been doing some form of processing before now.

In some situations, half bread is better than none.




Cassava doesn't spoil if not harvested? have you planted cassava before?

Go and grow cassava and leave it for 2 years before harvest and come back to tell us the yield you will get on a dry weight basis and compare it to the yield others will get if they harvest within 12-15 months.

What you said is not equal to spoilage! Cassava do not start spoiling until harvest!

mfm04622:


What you said is not equal to spoilage! Cassava do not start spoiling until harvest!

dis pikin, take your time.

If you want to learn, then bring school fees, I will teach you.

I will give you free lesson today.

Cassava roots rot when left too long in the soil after maturity, reducing the overall yield.
Cassava mobilizes starch from the tubers after maturity this causes the starch content and hence the yield to drop. This also causes the tubers to be fibrous. Some cassava processing firms will reject the cassava if the starch content drops below certain percentage.
The quality of garri made from excessively mature cassava is not as good as that made from cassava that is 12-15 months old. The Density of the garri is less and is more tricky to prepare with hot water.

If left long enough, the cassava tuber gets impregnated with cellulose, making that part of the tuber to be of no value in processing.
Leaving matured cassava in the field for too long is also invitation for more damage from wild animals

ogb5:


I will overlook your comment on internet farmer this time.

From the OP writeup he has calculated the logistic cost to the factory. by his calculation, he will spend 250,000 naira to harvest and transport 30 tons of cassava to the factory and he will sell at 450,000 naira for the 30 tons which will give him a balance of 200,000 naira per 30 ton trip.

I assume that by his writeup, the cassava is already 18 months old, from 12 months the starch content of the cassava starts to drop.

The OP said he has sold cassava at 80,000 naira per ton previously?
Have you seen anybody who sold fresh cassava at even 50,000 naira per ton before?
Maybe he was hoping to sell to a government company that runs on subvention from the govt.



You already have the factory, the workers and the experience to turn cassava into the garri and elubo, the OP does not have the factory setup yet, his cassava is overdue for harvest. Do you think he really have the time now for factory setup and going through the learning curve of cassava processing?

The best option for him is to sell the cassava to the factory or move it to an existing factory for processing into finish product. If he wanted to process cassava he should have had his factory built long before the cassava was ready for harvest and should have been doing some form of processing before now.

In some situations, half bread is better than none.




Cassava doesn't spoil if not harvested? have you planted cassava before?

Go and grow cassava and leave it for 2 years before harvest and come back to tell us the yield you will get on a dry weight basis and compare it to the yield others will get if they harvest within 12-15 months.

Forgive my "internet farmer" comment. I withdraw it and apologize.

But I will still disagree on the selling fresh tubers option. Whoever he wants to sell to will never give him a fair deal. The moment they find out he has harvested, they will stretch him for as long as he can hold out before offering him the most ridiculous prices ever.

Let him at least process by local means into gari. Even if he does not sell immediately, he can store until seasonal variation causes prices to go up slightly before selling.

agbajesaid:
Thank you very much sir. I wasn't sweet talked by any dark consultant. I have sold Cassava at even #80,000 per Ton before. So the #70,000 was just the average price.
As regards the Gaari, I chose it as an alternative because:
1) Companies too can be funny sometimes. Sometimes they take Weeks to pay. Other times, they frustrate is to the extent of abandoning goods with them without pay at all.
2) I have had cases whereby the Truck got spoilt on the road and we spent over 5 days to repair it. By Tue time we got to the Company, the Cassava has spoilt and it was rejected.
Both options has its advantages and disadvantages.

Please where is Said. I need to talk to you urgently and I've sent mails and texts. Your lines are not reachable. I need your help on something urgent. Mail me @ zoedicus.martins212@gmail.com