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Garico: A new food or feed resource?
Abstract
A study was undertaken to examine the potentials of Garico, a by-product of Gari production, from cassava as a new food or feed resource. The procedures for the preparation of Garico, the nutrient composition, its utilization, its particle size distribution compared to that of Gari and the compara-tive prices of Garico, Gari and maize were determined. Structured questionnaires were adminis-tered to 15 and 10 Gari producers in Anloga and Kpo Kɔʄe in the Ashanti and Volta Regions re-spectively. Data obtained were analyzed using descriptive statistics as described by the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 21. The results obtained indicated that Gari produc-tion is dominated by women (80%). Some of the respondents (44%) mentioned that Garico is being consumed by humans and domestic animals. The preference of an average consumer was 68% for Gari only, 4% for Garico only and 28% for both Gari and Garico. Most of the respondents (60%) admitted that the shelf life of Garico could be 1-2 years. The cost per kg of Garico was ¢ 2.76 in the Volta Region and ¢ 3.29 in the Ashanti Region. Nutrient compositions of Garico (ME- 2957-3060 kcal/kg; CP- 0.9-1.4% and CF- 1.38-2%) and Gari were similar and there were some critical pro-cessing differences. The mean particle size of Garico was 2mm compared to Gari which ranged from 500μm to 1mm. It was concluded that Garico could be used both as a food and feed resource if diets are well-balanced and particular attention is paid to economic considerations.
