yesterday food of the poor, gari is on the way to becoming a luxury product to the chagrin of the country's most vulnerable social strata. Several factors explain this gradual but sustained rise of a once commonplace food product.
It was the students' favorite food, apprentices, laborers and laborers. Gari dishes, low in nutrients, were also ubiquitous on the menu of low-income households. Flour made from cassava, a measurement (about a kilogram) of this product was sold to 150 CFA francs or less depending on the regions of Benin. Today, it is negotiated between 400 and 600 French. And, the rate at which market prices go, it is not excluded that prices will soar again. Self-sufficient, Benin exported this product in addition to its derivative Tapioca, to Nigeria, The gabon, Niger and others. But in recent years, production gradually declined as, on his side, demand is only increasing. Indeed, Benin's social situation is characterized by a drastic increase in the poverty rate due to several combined factors. This observation has also led President Talon to commit to making social issues the priority of his second five-year term which has just begun. (2021-2026).
More, there are many other factors that drive the price of gari up. The commune of Savalou is known as one of the largest suppliers of gari of the best quality and in large quantities.. In recent years, an alcohol distillation factory was set up there and started making cassava alcohol. Gradually, producers have turned to this company, thus abandoning gari, which has the disadvantage of requiring a lot of work. Later, there was a second distillery which was established in the town of Savè, another famous place for making gari.
These two localities supply most of the gari marketed in Benin, it is therefore obvious that the selling prices will only soar. In front of this situation, there is only one solution. We must produce even more and encourage farmers to prefer local consumption rather than the alcohol that, his, is exported.
Towards the end of his first term in 2000, President Mathieu Kérékou had urged the young people of Cotonou to move to rural areas to cultivate cassava because it has many potentialities. He was then derided. Today, his call sounds like a prophecy.
Pierre MATCHOUDO