Matthew ‘Bayo Temitope is a farmer who also processes pupuru, a local delicacy among the Ikale people in Nigeria. Our man, Johnson Oyeyemi, encountered him during his trip to Ilu Tuntun in the Okiti Pupa local government area of Ondo State. He told him,in this interview, the challenges of farmers and local processors of Pupuru and requests that the authorities assist to expand the market for the chief product of the area.
Matthew ‘Bayo Temitope
How many years have you been into farming?
It’s about 20 years. The other job am doing is cassava business, production and selling of Pupuru
What type of job were you doing before you started farming?
Normally, I went into Primary school and I stopped at the grammar school level.
Why did you choose Cassava/Pupuru business?
It is our local business in this town. In Ilu-Titun Osoro, that is the business that we know how to do very well. And since we do not have the opportunity to further our education, we had to face farming business. We started by planting and processing the cassava into pupuru, we also buy cassava from other farmers.
In farming there are various types of crops you can engage in, why the interest and choice of cassava and pupuru?
Pupuru is a very important food; its business thrives well in our town especially Okitipupa Local government. Pupuru is the food of Ikale people.
Only pupuru?
Yes, Pupuru only and Yam/pounded yam is our food here. So if anyone comes here to talk or ask for Amala Eba/Garri then he/she is not from this town. Rice or beans is not our food here.
So Okitipupa /Ikale don’t care about FUFU?
Not our food. You can’t get fufu to buy anywhere here. By the time we finish processing the Pupuru it can be stored for six months and nothing will happen to it. It does not get spoilt. The preparation is easy. All you need do is to boil water and put the Pupuru flour in, stir it together well then food is ready.
It is like Flour?
Yes it is like flour, but I am not used to other types of flour especially yam flour so I don’t now how long it can be preserved. Pupuru can last for six months in storage and nothing will happen to it.
In those six months, how do you preserve it?
We put it in the sack or in a plastic with cover, it can even last up to one year once its kept away from air, just like Garri.
And it doesn’t attract weevil?
Hunhun, it doesn’t
Has there been any research carried out on it about the nutrients in Pupuru?
Pupuru is a starchy food, again you will be able to do tedious job, if you eat pupuru. It is not food for the elites but food for farmers (and others) that need lots of energy to work in the farm (or elsewhere). It is a food required to do energy sapping job.
Pupuru has more power than Fufu, Garri or Rice?
Yes it has.
Hope you are not saying this because it is the food you grew up to know because you were born here?
It is not. You can’t eat Rice here and go to farm to go and make heaps. It is not possible here. Our body will not carry it, because we are used to Pupuru as our local food. You cannot go to farm to go and harvest Cassava with rice. Am just coming from the farm, we brought a well stacked full Toyota Cabstar lorry load of cassava from the farm. My boys ate pupuru swallow food twice before we left the farm and you know lots of movement would have been done on the farm.
As a Cassava/Pupuru farmer, do you have an Association?
People have been mentioning it to me especially the women in my group that it is compulsory that we must have association. As their leader in this town I said having an association does not depend on anything. If you go to the farm on your own he/she cannot harvest more than 4 toyota cabstar lorry load in his farm. But in a year we do more than 50 Cabstar in a year so I said, the price of these each Toyota cabstar full load cannot be the same. Sometimes we have farmers who may not go to farm in a month while some goes every month.
Don’t you think of the benefits of having an association? For instance, assisting the members in many ways like advise, finance etc
Thank you. On this aspect, I have taken some of my members to the only Micro finance bank in this town to come and borrow money and I acted of guarantor for them. At the end of the day some of these people can default because, if we advise on how to handle some matters but this failed to work out, it becomes an issue. So this is what we want to run away from. Some people borrowed money from bank, invest on Pupuru, after sales in the market, they spent (the proceeds) on clothes and other unnecessary thing, they will not remember to come and liquidate the loan collected. Things like this harm people like us who must have stood as guarantor for them. This is the reason why we do not have association in this town for if we have association today in this town, am their leader.
Some people borrowed money from bank, invest on Pupuru, after sales in the market, they spent (the proceeds) on clothes and other unnecessary thing, they will not remember to come and liquidate the loan collected.
If you have association, you will be united and speak with one voice to demand/get assistance from government but it may not be easy for one person to approach government for assistance
We do not have association. But my co-producers of pupuru have been saying that we should come together as an association. We have more women doing the business than men. Looking at this it is only me that is the only man and it is very difficult for a man to walk in the midst of say like 200 women. It may end up in crisis. Some women will use association meeting as a decoy as a cover up to go and do what is not good. And this may end up to create family problem that may end up to destroy the marriage. So one must be very careful. Let individual stay on his/her own to run his/her business as much as they can. We buy cassava in the farm at different prices. Last year a Toyota Cabstar full load was bought for #800,000 (Eight hundred thousand naira) but from January this year the market has not been stable. The market is dropping, the full load I brought in today is #400,000.00. (Four hundred thousand)
If you remove Pupuru from Cassava, are there waste products?
The waste product is the cassava peel and we have people that come to buy it to feed animals. Like cows, goat, pigs etc but due to in this area, lots of people engage in pupuru those people don’t buy the peel, they just pack them free. Sometimes we use money to dispose the peel away into the bush.
What about starch, you don’t have this?
You know we are talking about Pupuru. Pupuru is different from Garri. In doing Garri, once we peel the cassava in its fresh state we will grind, after grinding we take to press machine to press the water (starch) out but Pupuru does not have starch.
Do you have any Cooperative society in this town?
We do not have any Cooperative Society in this town except one Micro finance bank. Because it is all that have their disadvantages. Now some people may go to LAPO to borrow money and this will not be more that #100,000 but as it is today you must have #700,000 to go and buy market in the farm to bring cassava down home.
There is no Cooperative Society, what then are the challenges facing Cassava/Pupuru farmers?
The challenges are majorly two and these are Market to sell into in large quantities and for those coming behind, they don’t have adequate capital to finance the business. What they do is to go to people that have money, they will collect money in advance to go and process Pupuru. The people that lend them money will now collect pupuru up to the value of money given in advance. Pupuru sellers will now remove their margin on each bag given to the Lenders. But if there is anywhere these people coming behind can go to borrow money to start the business that will be better.
The people that lend them money will now collect pupuru up to the value of money given in advance. Pupuru sellers will now remove their margin on each bag given to the Lenders.
Do you have market where you sell in large quantities?
No. All that we are producing in this town are been consumed locally. We do not have large market where we can sell into due to the fact that the food is not that popular in Yoruba land. It is only popular among the Ikale people. If you come across Pupuru in Ijebu ode, Oyo, or Ibadan it means that Ikale people are living around that area of whichever city/town you come across it. It is only known very well in Ondo state.
It means that the food is not popular outside Ikale land?
No, it is not popular. This is another challenge facing us. A bag was sold for #75,000, but as of now it is N30,000.
And you don’t think that having Pupuru sellers association can make the government to assist farmers in Ilu-Titun town?
You know not all animals are equal. There is nothing we know other than go to the farm to buy Cassava, process it into Pupuru and take it to our local market to sell. There is no large market for us to take it to or that we have buyers from other towns in Yoruba land who come here to buy in large quantities.
What do you want Government to do for you?
It will be nice if government can help us do enlightenment about the food and as well find international market for Pupuru so that we can be somebody.
It will be nice if government can help us do enlightenment about the food and as well find international market for Pupuru…
