Many Nigerians love, and cherish kuli kuli for its taste. JOSEPH ENNA visited the women in Nasarawa-Eggon area of Nasarawa State, a major hub that produces it and the challenges they face in the process.
Any grown-up in the South-West part of Nigeria, especially those who were in primary schools in the late 60s, 70s and 80s, would remember with nostalgia the delicacy called kuli kuli. Primary school pupil then looked forward to break times when they could snack on plenty of kuli kuli, and another equally popular groundnut variety called donkua, which they stuffed in their school shorts. Some, like the spokesman of President Muhammadu Buhari, Mr Debo Adesina, eventually got nicknamed ‘kuli kuli’ for their excessive love for the snack.
However, the hub of the kuli-kuli business is the northern part of the country. Nasarawa-Eggon Local Government of Nasarawa State, especially, is now growing to become popular in producing kuli kuli in large quantities, making the business a huge profit making one dominated by housewives, the working class women and their children, who assist in refining the product.
Due to its attendant benefits, the business has changed the status quo of the local producers from ordinary housewives and employees to employers of labour. Findings revealed that about 45 per cent of every household in Nasarawa Eggon are involved in this huge commercial money-making venture, which is now the source of their livelihood.
The hitherto stories of economic hardship, inability to pay children’s school fees, salary cut and the like, has become long forgotten challenges in the local government area as most men in the area have joined their wives in the business.
Aside snacking on kuli kuli, most livestock farmers use it to complement the feed of their stocks such as fish, poultry, pigs, goats, and cows, to lessen the burden of buying animal feeds. Producers of kuli kuli also make money from the oil extract from the groundnut after the rigorous process of grinding it before frying the cake as a finished product.
Processing kuli kuli
Fatima has been in the business for years and it has been her only source of income. Explaining how kuli kuli is processed, one of the women in Nasarawa-Eggon, Fatima Ibrahim, said after obtaining groundnut seed from the market, which costs N200-N250 per measure, it is then roasted and winnowed in order to remove the chaff. “Thereafter, the substance is left till the following day, grounded into paste and placed in a big container where it is continually stirred to extract oil from it until it changes into brownish colour.
“Another set of people squeeze, and structure it to a different shapes, before frying it with same oil that’s extracted from it. The extractor machine helps us with the oil extraction, or we would have been using our traditional method of the mortar and pestle for oil extraction,” she said.
“Frying groundnut cake is the only business I do to feed my family and take care of myself. I have been doing this for over 10 years, and I’m making lots of money from it to cater for my family. I pay our children’s school fees regularly from the profits without stress. We used to refine the groundnut cake in our house and sell to some Hausa dealers who buy from us and transport it to other states in the country,” she added.
Although, she couldn’t give the actual amount of what she makes in a month because of the little capital used for the business, and because immediately after selling the product to the dealers, she spends the same money on buying another batch of groundnut for the next production. However, she still makes some profit, even with her little capital. “We sell a basin of kuli kuli at N2, 500, and four basins are equivalent to a full bag of nuts, which costs N10,000.”
Although, they are not getting any support from the government, some of the women plead for financial support, and also the provision of modern machines to reduce the difficulties they face in the business.
Another woman, Salamatu Amadu, also a kuli kuli producer, complained about women who are in the business, but they do not have a formidable union to speak for the, which allows dealers to always buy their products at ridiculously low price.
“If they (dealers) come to buy from and you insist on a certain price, the buyers move somewhere else to buy it at a price far less than yours, leaving one frustrated and stranded. But despite that, I still make over N20, 000 in month as profit, aside the main capital. It is from there I feed my family, pay my children’s school fees, etc.”
Habiba Adamu has been in the kuli kuli business for over 20 years and for both decades, it has been a profitable business, but she believes, like the other women, that those doing the business could do with government assistance, especially in helping them to purchase the machines that would make the production of kuli kuli a lot easier.
“We need government to assist us with loans and modern machines to reduce our work load. We have about three different machines that are used in processing kuli kuli. There is one we use to break groundnuts into smaller particles, another one grinds, while another machine is used to stir the paste. We also need simple fire mechanism to help us refine it to finished product, which is not even available at the moment. We need that one too because the way we expose ourselves to flame is very hazardous to health. Please, let the government help us with another simple option,” she said.
Another major dealer, Ibrahim Nalado, has been doing the business for over 27 years, and consistently makes a profit of N30,000 to N40,000 on each transaction. To him, the quality of the product determines the price. “If it is of good quality, one can make good profit from it. But if one is unfortunate to take bad products to the market, even the main capital will be negatively affected,” he added.
Nalado, like the women, also lamented lack of financial assistance from any quarter, including the government.
The respondents also urged jobless women to find something to do and to stop depending on their husbands for their upkeep, saying that instead of staying idle, they could embrace the business producing kuli kuli to earn a living.
“We only use the little resources we have to transact business. I used to buy over 20 bags of kuli kuli in a day, and, collectively with others, we package and transport it to Kogi, Ibadan, and Lagos states, to sell. We pay N1,000 per bag to transport the cake to Lagos; N700 to Ibadan and N500 to Kogi states respectively. In fact, even with this transport fare, we still make huge profits. So, I call on our young ones to engage themselves in meaningful ventures, and stop complaining of not having jobs.
“Gone at those days when youth depended on government jobs. Now, people are improvising for themselves in order to earn a living, while the business can be started with as little as N20,000,” Nalado told Sunday Tribune.
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