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In Nigeria, it has moved from a normal occasional everyday snack mostly consumed in northern Nigeria to a healthy food alternative for health-conscious people. The demand for the product is growing in leaps and bounds as it has found uses in a sweet drink hawked and consumed around the country.
The tubers are edible raw or cooked.They have a slightly sweet, nutty flavor. In Northern Nigeria, it is called aya and it is usually eaten fresh. Also, a drink known as kunun aya is made by processing the nuts with dates and later sieved and served chilled.
INDUSTRIAL USES
Flour of roasted tiger nut is sometimes added to biscuits and other bakery products as well as in making oil, soap, and starch extracts,production of nougat, jam, beer, and as a flavoring agent in ice cream. Tiger nut oil can be used naturally with salads or for deep frying. It is considered to be a high quality oil. Tiger nut has been used as an alternative source of milk and can thus be useful to people intolerant to lactose.
FARMING
most tigernut farming in Nigeria is at subsistence level.
It is normally planted on tilled flat soils. Seeds are planted approximately 60 cm (2.0 ft) apart and seeding depth is around 8 cm (3 in). A typical seeding rate is about 120 kg of tubers/ha. Tubers develop about 6 – 8 weeks after seedling and grow quickly during July and August. The maturing is around 90 – 110 days. With good farming practices, (seeds and manure) the average yield can approach between 10 and 19 t/ha. The harvested seeds are washed, dried for up to 2 months to enable them store well for months. The demand for the nuts are all year round.
PRICE AND INVESTMENT
Due to the rise in the popularity of tiger nuts, the price has gone through the roof. In Nigeria a measure of tiger nuts goes for over N1000 per measure comparable to the price of beans. A hectare of tigernut can very easily yield N5m worth of nuts.
This price rise coupled with the ease of cultivation is a great incentive for investment. The export potential is excellent as it sells for up to £4 per kg in UK for example. A hectare can therefore yield a minimum gross return of £4x1000x10 =£40,000 (N25,000,000) per hectare.
It's a gold mine
