Characterisation of Gari Frying Stations in Ifo Local Government, Ogun State, Nigeria

Abstract

Ifo Local Government area and it’s environ in Ogun state which is located in the south-western part of Nigeria includes Ifo town and Ibogun villages. A survey was carried out on forty different gari-frying stations and processors within this area identifying their characteristics. These characteristics are those that have to do with the workstation, gari-frying utensils and the worker (processor). This was done using Probability Tree Analysis. Also, a correlation coefficient between the worker’s arm length and the mean distance of the pan was calculated. It was discovered that 97.5% of the workstations were local and were located outdoor using a pan of an average size of 63.4cm; 25% of the population took the frontal sitting posture; 87.5% of the workers interviewed were female and 57.14% of these female workers were above 40 years of age. The result also showed that a typical gari frying station in Ifo Local Government area will be located outdoor with a locally made frying chamber and a circular frying pan whose average diameter will be 64.3cm. A female worker above youthful age with an arm length of 67.7cm and working experience of more than 16 years will be sitting sideways while frying gari. There was a negative correlation between the pan mean distance and the worker’s arm length. This result further reveals the dominance of the local method of frying gari in Ifo Local Government area and the dominance of women in gari frying.

Keywords: Gari-frying, cassava, probability tree, workstation, worker.