Reasons why you need to stop eating white garri- Otuoke Farmer

 A cassava farmer in Otuoke has given reasons why Nigerians should stop consuming white garri without oil

- The farmer, Mrs. Totuo Ase, says white garri is harmful to the eyes, hence she advised Nigerians to patronise the garri prepared with palm oil

- She spoke when our reporter visited the village on a fact finding mission

A cassava farmer in Otuoke, the country home of former President Goodluck Jonathan in Bayelsa state, Mrs. Totuo Ase, has revealed that eating white garri is harmful to the eyes.

Hence, she advised Nigerians and others who are addicted to eating garri to go rather for the garri mixed with palm oil.

She told our correspondent who was on a three day visit to the community that garri mixed with palm oil was better than the one left in its whitish form.

The cassava farmer in Otuoke

Her reasons are not far-fetched. She said the garri mixed with oil is better than the one left in its whitish form.

According to her: “There are two types of garri. The one left in its white form and the one that is processed mixed with palm oil. The one mixed with palm oil is better than the one in its white form.

“The palm oil in it kills the starch in the garri because starch in the white garri affects the eyes. So, when you add oil to the processed cassava before packing it in a porous bag to an adjustable pressing machine, it helps to reduce the effect of the starch in it.”

She explained the process of planting the cassava that eventually lead to the processed garri which people consume as staple food in Nigeria.

She said: “I planted this cassava in January last year and I’m harvesting them now. It takes about a year to harvest the cassava after planting the stem. The process follows planting, weeding, harvesting and processing.”

Otuoke cassava farmer

Mrs. Ase said beside cassava farming, she also cultivates plantain and banana, noting that buyers come to the community from Yenagoa and Port Harcourt to buy the products in bulk to the main markets in the cities.

“If you come here every Monday morning you will see plantain everywhere for sale. Before, we did not value garri because it was very cheap but now garri is costly and we don’t have much of it.

She told our reporter who asked her why food is expensive in the village that it is the product of the change Nigerians voted for.

“It is the change we all voted for. The country is the problem. APC change is what we are experiencing. Before now, things were not like this.

“But for the new government, we now uproot this kind of weak cassava. These are too small to be processed but we do so because of the hunger in the land. Before now, if you uproot this kind of cassava, you are seen as a stranger who is yet to gain ground," she said

Source

#Naij