Garri: Saving Nigerians Since The Spanish Flu

Who Owns Cassava?

In Pana, the 2016 smash hit by pop sensation Tekno, the star artiste professes his undying love to Folake — a girl that has clearly caught his fancy. Therein, amidst a simple, pulpy drum beat whipped up by Krizbeatz, Tekno swears about his willingness to give Folake everything, including his big cassava, which he heard she likes. (_side eye to the miserable boys who kiss and tell_).

However, ignoring Alhaji Tekno and his suggestive lyrics for a minute, my bigger concern is: who started owning cassavas in Nigeria? And in fact, how did Nigeria and Nigerians come about to owning cassavas, the root crop that produces some of our biggest staples, including Garri, Fufu, Amala (Láfún), Abacha, Cassava Bread, just to name a few.

Blame It On Em Portugues

Cassava (Manihot esculenta) has its origin in Latin America (specifically Brazil and Paraguay) where it has been grown by the indigenous Indian population for at least 4,000 years. After its discovery in the Americas, European traders brought it to Africa as a potentially useful crop; later it was taken to Asia to be grown as a food security crop and for extraction of starch.

Cassava was specifically introduced into Nigeria by the Portuguese traders and explorers from Fernando-Po to Warri in the then Mid-Western Nigeria in the late 18th century. It later spread to Lagos, Badagry, Abeokuta and Ijebu in the early 19th century by slaves from the West Indies and Sierra-Leone who settled in these towns.

The returnees processed Cassava into Garri, Láfún and Iwa-panya for food. Cassava and Cassava products were later introduced into Eastern Nigeria along the coast towns of Calabar and Yenagoa by traders from Western Nigeria. Effectively, Cassava may have been introduced in Nigeria to different regions since about 330 years ago.

Today, Nigeria stands as the largest cassava producer in the world, with about 45 million metric tonnes annually produced, one of the world's truly biggest Cassava transformations. Cassava can be regarded as the most important crop in Nigeria today, especially as its role in food security, poverty alleviation and raw materials service for agro-allied industries remains unparalleled.

However, it is paradoxical that Cassava, which had been widely grown in the Niger Delta since its introduction by the early Portuguese visitors failed to spread in large parts of Nigeria until after the 1918-1919 pandemic of influenza. And this was due to the well-established nature of some food staples — king of which was Yam.

“If We Don't Eat Yam Because of Palm Oil, We Will Eat Palm Oil Because of Yam” - Professor Naira Marley

D.C Ohadike in his journal article “The Influenza Pandemic of 1918-19 And the Spread of Cassava Cultivation On the Lower Niger: A Study in Historical Linkages" reports that “No one knows when yams were first grown on the Lower Niger”. However, he adds that several varieties of the yam plant are indigenous to the Lower Niger area and have been stable crops for centuries.

Evidences from both the Igbo-Ukwu excavations and the Nri traditions suggest that Yams have been grown in the area from very ancient times. In fact, one version of the Nri Traditions claims that God sent Eze Nri with yams to feed the Igbo peoples.

In the Southwestern part of Nigeria, the Ekiti people were one of the earliest Nigerian tribes to jump in on the Yam wave. According to A. Oguntuyi in 1973,

The staple food in Ekiti was pounded Yam (Iyan). A wealthy man ate it three times a day, the poor once a day… When yams are not available (that is not brought from the farm), any other article of food could be used as a substitute, but it must be pounded (i.e. boiled corn, plantain, cassava).

Also, Mr. P. Donald, the Acting District Officer for Ekiti (under colonial rule), noted this phenomenon in his Annual Report on Agriculture in 1932:

The Honourable Divisional Officer may like to know that the Ekiti people who though were self sufficient in root crop production, among others, before the majesty rule, have diversified their food crops. They have now shown increased interest in planting those crops which they had for years neglected because of the supremacy of yams which earned the people the nickname “pounded-yam-eaters". Perhaps what created this situation was the unfortunate epidemic (emphasis mine) and the 1st World War, all of which brought famine over a decade ago. Of course though to a little extent some farming innovations or propaganda by the government were also part of what now make Ekiti a good territory for root and grain crops”.

Thus, it is safely concluded that Yam was the main staple of many tribes and communities in post-colonial Nigeria. In fact, David Northrup has estimated that over 400,000 yams annually entered the Niger Delta through inter-ethnic trade from the Bight of Biafra at the beginning of the 18th century, and about 1,200,000 at the end of the century, in exchange for Niger Delta Salt.

However, why and how did Cassava topple Yam as the king of the tropics?

Cassava to Yam: “Hold My Beer”

Northrup opines that three factors caused the seismic shift in the Nigerian prevailing staple food from Yam to Cassava. They include:

1) British imperial and punitive expeditions within the first fifteen years of the 20th century;

2) The First World War;

3) The influenza pandemic of 1918 - 1919.

The Influenza Pandemic appears to be the last straw that broke the Yam's back, and ushered in the widespread planting of Cassava.

The disease was brought into Nigeria via Lagos by Ocean Liners (or Ships) which came into the Lagos coast from Sierra Leone and the Gold Coast. Other entry points were Calabar and Forcados, with the Ocean Liner S.S. Batanga reporting two cases on 28th September, 1918. Port Harcourt, Lagos, Forcados and Calabar were primary infection hits, while the disease spread westward through Agbor, Ubiaja and Benin, and eastward through Owerri, Okigwe, Enugu-Ngwo and Aba. From the Eastern Railway, it spread further east reaching Ikot-Ekpene, Obubra, Afikpo, Abakaliki, Ogoja, Obudu and Ikom.

In Nigeria's Northern Provinces, over one-third of the European community was attacked and 51 out of every 1,000 of those attached died. In Ilorin, 55 persons per one thousand Africans died. In Benin Province, 15,000 people died. In Ogoja province, 63,000 people died. In Owerri Province, 41,000 people lost their lives, and an official report confirmed that “out of a population of nine million, at least a quarter of a million died from the Influenza in the Southern provinces of Nigeria during the Epidemic”, a wildly conservative figure given that the numbers only report official case deaths coming under the direct observation of Medical Officers.

Of course, these deaths exacted a heavy toll on the local population. A confusing pattern of these deaths was also that ‘the old suffered less than the young’, and that ‘women suffered less than men’. In short, it was the agile and virile population who suffered the most, prompting the Acting Lieutenant Governor of the Northern Provinces, W.F. Gower's to lament:

The consequence of this is that the number of deaths … comprise an unduly large proportion of the young and vigorous. Such a loss of manpower cannot fail to have an appreciable effect on the productive capacity of the country during the next years.

And it did. Among other economic meltdowns, food became more scarce and dearer, leading to the rapid spread of Cassava cultivation, a crop that required less labour in comparison to Yam, and could be left totally to women and children, even for processing, as the few available men concentrated on Yam production and house roofing.

Cassava needed little to no weeding, needed no staking when growing, and could be left in the soil for up to four years, even when mature. Cassava could also thrive on farmlands that were about to be left fallow, unlike Yams, and it could be planted and harvested throughout the year.

Indeed, all of these must have shown local people that Cassava was the real deal. One among many observers even noted:

We had no Cassava in this place. This was brought from Ukwuba and Ihele near Nsukwa. Cassava came after the influenza. People had no yams to eat. They ate cassava.”

Perhaps no other axiom best describes the importance of Cassava to the Igbos than when they say: Ji akpu gara ogu gara igwe alaghi ala — Cassava that came to sustain life and ended up being the number one crop.

Italy and Pasta, Nigeria and Cassava

It is clear that staple food plays a huge and immense part of national cultures. For instance, many Italians left boxes of Penne Lisce (or smooth pasta) untouched and on the streets, even when faced with quarantine and potential starvation, simple because they considered it inferior to Penne Rigate, the other stripped Pasta. To the Italian, Pasta is not just Pasta.

As Nigeria's coronavirus lockdown continues, it is clear that Cassava extracts will form a good part of the daily cuisine of many Nigerians, as it has always done. Given that many Nigerians live below and just above the poverty line, Cassava remains one indispensable crop for ensuring food security and helping alleviate poverty.

In short, all I'm trying to ask you is that you travel the length and breadth of Nigeria and find me a more iconic duo than Garri and Groundnut. I'll wait.