12 February 2006, Kilankwa, Nigeria - A man extracting excess liquid from cassava with a scrull press at the Erimope gari processing plant. Gari, one of Nigeria's staple foods, is commonly consumed either by being soaked in cold water with sugar, coconut, roasted groundnuts, dry fish, or boiled cowpea as complements or as a paste made with hot water and eaten with vegetable sauce. When properly stored, it has a shelf-life of six months or more. Nigeria is the world's largest producer of cassava.
FAO Project UTF/NIR/047/NIR: The National Special Food Security Programme, Nigeria. The objective of the programme is to contribute to sustainable improvements in national food security through rapid increases in productivity and food production on an economically and environmentally sustainable basis, reduce year-to-year variability in agricultural production, and improve people's access to food. The project agreement foresees that the funds are administered locally in Nigeria and of these funds a portion is regularly transferred to FAO Headquarters and registered in the accounts of the Organization (Data Warehouse).