Fresh roots must be processed within 2 to 3 days from harvest. To reduce this level of losses, it is very necessary that they are processed as early as possible, hence need for the processing plants by FEYReP. Prior to the siting of the two cassava factories, cassava processing in the two local governments was done using traditional methods which is tasking, ineffective, time consuming and inefficient. The problem was worsened when large quantities were to be produced. With this difficulty in processing, farmers always resorted to selling their crops at a very low price to middlemen.
Cassava food products are the most important staples of rural and urban households in southern Nigeria. Current estimates show that the dietary calorie equivalent of per capita consumption of cassava in the country amounts to about 238 kcal (Cock, 1985). This is derived from the consumption of garri(toasted granules), chips/flour, fermented pastes and/or fresh roots, the principal cassava food forms.
Women play a central role in cassava production, contributing about 58 percent of the total agricultural labour in the southwest, 67 percent in the southeast and 58 percent in the central zones, with involvement in virtually all activities, hoeing, weeding, harvesting, transporting, storing, processing and marketing (IFAD, 1994). In Okobo Local Government Area, FEYReP has successfully bred a high-yielding cassava variety which has been a big boost to garri production in the state. This effort contributed greatly to the crashing price of garri in the state.