Cassava can be a long term plant, from six months to two years depending upon the use it is intended for. Although this grows anywhere that the soil is loose and not water logging, and rich, farmers do not care much for it. Many are still unaware that besides being second to rice among crops, cassava is valuable in industry. From cassava, alcohol, glucose, solvents explosives, animal feed, fertilizers, energy and others are derived.
There are many kinds of cassava that are well adapted to our climate, but only four of these are common because of their low hydrocyanic acid content. There are Golden Yellow, Katabang, Macan and Brasil. Two others used in the manufacture of starch are the Hawaiian 5 and Java Brown. The Mandioca Sao Pedro Preto is not edible because of its high poison content.
Cassava Production
Planting
* Cassava may be planted at any season, but it is better if the soil is always wet in the first 4-5 weeks after planting. * The stem to be planted must be from a matured plant, about a year old, 25 cm long with 5-7 nodes from the bottom stem. The thickness of the stem must not be smaller than half of the fattest part of the stem from where it is cut. If the stem is smaller than this, it will not have much nutrient content with which to start the new plant, so the roots and growths will be small. * Cut the stem crosswise with a sharp bolo. Avoid bruises and breaks, and plant within the week when the stems are cut. * The stems to be planted can last up to 10 days if these are wrapped in a wet cloth or sack and placed in any airy and shady place. If it is not possible to plant immediately, these will still grow within a month if it is sprayed with any of the following before storage: Orthocide or Daconil, Manzate, Dithane, Demosan, Brassicol, Visigran, or Agallol. * It should be stored in a shady, humid or cool place with temperature between 20-30°C.
Like any land preparation for planting, plow the land to remove weeds and grasses. Let it stand for a week to allow the remaining weeds to grow, then plow again. Let it stand for another week and plow for the third time.
Make hills about 75 cm apart from one another, depending on the kind to be planted.With the help of a pointed stick, make a hole about 18 cm deep in each hill where the stems are to be planted, one in each hole. Plant early in the morning or late afternoons during summer or any time when the sun is cool.
Three methods of planting cassava
a. horizontal — during summer so that the plant will be kept moist. b. vertical — during rainy days so that it will not rot if constantly wet. c. slanting — between the two seasons mentioned.
In planting, unless the stem is horizontal, bury 3/4 of the stem in the soil, and cover the 1/4 with 10 cm fine soil.
After a month, other short term crops may be planted in between the cassava plants. But if the other plants will be as high as the cassava as they grow, they can be planted at the same time.
When applying fetilizers for a second time, hill up around the plants, as in corn fertilizing. Cassava needs watering, especially in the first two months of its growth, when the root crop is beginning to grow.
Fertilizer
As much as possible, the soil where the cassava is to be planted should be analyzed at the Bureau of Soils. However, if this is not possible, the following may be used:
+100+120 NPK mix or about 222 kg urea 45-0-0 500 kg solophos (0-20-0) 200 kg muriate of potash (0-0-60)
Apply half of the N.P.K. on planting and the remaining half about two months afterwards.
Always remove the weeds, but when the plants are two months old, don’t till any more because the growing roots (fruits) could be hurt. About three months after planting, gramoxone herbicide could be used to control weeds.
Pests
Malathion or Servin may be sprayed on insects pests, but the bigger enemies are the rats and pigs. To control the yellowing and eventual falling of leaves, spray demothoate 3 spoons for every (kerosene) can of water, or follow the instructions on the label.
Spray every 2-4 weeks. But the best measure against insect pests are the natural pesticides like the mixture of wild pepper, makabuhay and the like.
Cassava may be harvested 10-14 months after planting. Try first a few roots’. If the rest of the crops don’t grow any more, then it is time to harvest. Plow the field or carefully pull up the crops manually. Cassava is sold fresh or dried as flakes. Wash well, peel and shred, then dry.
Harvest and Storage of Cassava
Cassava is ready for harvest from six to seven months after planting. This is sweet if harvested at the right age, but premature, it is tasteless and rots easily. When over mature, it will have harbored mold (bukbok) and/or will be eaten by pests, and the fibers will be tough.
* Don’t harvest just after a rain or when the soil is wet. The crops will rot easily and it will be difficult to clean off the soil around it. * If the soil is compact, loosen it first with a pointed wooden stick, not metal, so as not to bruise, or hurt the crop. * Pull up the whole plant gently, with all its root crop. Don’t drag so as not to bruise, which will cause the start of rotting. * In separating the crop from the stem, don’t just break it off. Use a sharp knife for cutting closest to the stem. * Don’t leave the crops exposed under the sun but in the shade. * Separate the small ones from the large ones, and the damage from the undamaged or unhurt. Cook soon those with damage or bruises as these will be the first to rot, or use the damaged crops and the small ones as animal feed. The good ones and matured may be stored or sold.
Storage
There are two easy of storing cassava that enables it to last 3-4 months. This is by keeping them in a hole in the ground, or by storing the crops in a wooden box. In transporting the crops from the field to the storage place, put them in a firm container (like a basket not sack) so as to avoid bruises that will eventually cause rotting.
A. Storage in the Ground
* In an elevated and shady place, where one side is lower than the other and does not log water, dig a hole about 30-40 cm deep, one meter long (or depending on the amount of crops to be stored), and about one meter wide. This can contain about 75 kilos of crops. Digging should be downward. At the end of the down end, make a canal about 20 cm wide crosswise and deeper by about 7 cm than the big hole, where the water will run when it rains. * Arrange the mature crops and without bruises in the hole. * Cover with soil (better if sand) every layer. * If sand is not available, clay may be used, but not very wet, because this will hasten the rotting of the stored crops.
B. Storage in a Wooden Box
* The storage box must be made of wood, about one-half meter wide, 60 cm long and 30 cm high. This can accommodate about 20 kg of cassava packed in sand or wood shavings. The box must have its own cover. * Fill the bottom of the box with 3 cm thick moist (not wet) sand or wood shavings. * Arrange the crops one beside the other and cover with moist sand or wood shavings. * After each layer of crops, cover with sand or shavings. * Cover the last layer with about 8-9 cm thick of same before putting on the lid. * Store the box with cassava in a cool and dry place. * Do not place directly on the ground, and stack up alternately so as to allow circulation of air between them.
This manner of storage will keep the crops up to 3 months.
When is cassava poisonous?
There are two kinds of cassava: the sweet and the bitter kinds. The ordinary kind sold in the market is the sweet kind, and the one made into laundry starch is the bitter kind.
The manner of planting, whether horizontal or upside down has nothing to do with its poison. Cassava naturally contains hydrocyanic acid, which is poison to both man and animal. The bitter kind contains more of the poison, but both kinds have it.
In the sweet kind, the poison is concentrated on the bark or skin of the crop, not so much on the flesh or meat. In the bitter kind, the poison is spread out on whole crop.
Weather and environment also have something to do with the cassava’s poison content. When there is much nitrogen in the soil, there is more poison in the cassava where potassium in the soil is high, the poison in the cassava is low.
A long dry season increases the cassava’s poison content: wet soil as during the rainy season lowers its poison content. Because of this, it is said that cassava contains poison in Summer.
According to scientists, cassava’s poison contains more or less 30-150 mg of hydrocyanic acid (a milligram is one part of a thousand grams). If the hydrocyanic acid content is less than 50 mg it will not be harmful to eat. If it will exceed 100 mg. the poison content could be dangerous.
In the ordinary way of cooking, the poison disappears in the sweet kind but in the bitter kind, about 20 mg per kilo remains in the fresh peeled cassava.
According to experts, the amount of hydrocyanic acid in cassava is poisonous from one-half mg (.5 mg) up to 3.5 mg per kilo of the person eating the cassava. Thus, a person who weighs 50 kilos will be poisoned if he consumes one and one-fourth (1 1/4) kilo of bitter cassava. When his stomach begins to ache and he starts vomiting, or his mind becomes confused after eating cassava, then he has been poisoned.
The poison in cassava disappears during cooking, so, cooking cassava as suman is a safe way of eating cassava. Besides, suman preparation entails removal of bark, grating, extracting the juice, before cooking. Grating and extracting the juice already removes the poison, and it is further evaporated during cooking.
Other ways of removing the poison in cassava are: chopping, soaking in water, heating up to 57°C, and exposing in the sun. It is best not just to steam it but to cook it well. Even the bitter kind loses its poison when cooked well.
But it is always better to buy the sweet kind. This is known if, upon removal of the bark, the flesh is sweet. The meat of the sweet cassava tastes sweet!
Sources: Greenfields November 1982; Greenfields December 1980; PRIS Extension Bulletin, Dept. of Agriculture No. 1 English 1986
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The yield from an acre of cassava ranges 4-8 MT, which translates into 1.5-4 metric tons of dried cassava chips and 1.2 -2.5 metric tons of cassava flour.
Cassava (Manihot esculenta) is a staple crop that is important for food security in the tropics. However, cassava farming can have severe environmental impacts, such as habitat destruction and soil degradation, if it is not carefully managed.
A minimum of four bags of fertilizer per hectare is guaranteed to give an increase of 200 per cent in yield. The right concentration must be used, mixing ratio must be done properly, and at the time of spraying, there must be low sunshine to reduce evaporation.
There is great potential for further production increases – under optimal conditions, cassava yields can reach 80 tonnes per hectare, compared to the current world average yield of just 12.8 tonnes.
Some quick growing cultivars can be harvested in 6-7 months so you can plant and harvest them twice a year. However, for good yields you must harvest after 9 to 12 months.
The yield varies from 20 to 30 tonnes per hectare for local varieties and from 25 to 70 tonnes per hectare for improved varieties. In hostile environments where other crops fail, cassava can provide good yields. In typical conditions, the yield may vary between 8 to 15 tonnes of tubers per hectare.
Other challenges are long maturation duration, low and unstable dry matter and starch contents, high cyanogenic levels, poor cooking qualities, cassava bacterial blight and root rot in forested areas. Unfavourable plant architecture and low nitrogen use efficiency will also need attention.
Findings showed that poor yield due to bad weather conditions and inadequate transportation systems were the most intense risks faced by cassava farmers. The major farmers' risk management strategies in order of importance were mixed cropping, mixed farming, off-farm investment and Insurance.
Initially, cassava should be fertilized with equal amounts of N, phosphorus pentoxide (P2O5) and potassium oxide (K2O) at a rate of 500 kg to 800 kg per ha of a compound fertilizer such as 15-15-15 or 16-16-16.
So 1 ton of fresh cassava can produce more than 250kg garri, if your bags is 50kg, you will get more than 5 bags of garri. The premise of this data is to use garri processing equipment to make garri. Now we mainly introduce the influence of garri process technology on the yield.
Godwin Atser has listed high yielding cassava varieties with high demand to include TME 419, Fine Face, Dixon, Farmers' Pride, Sunshine, Game Changer, Obasanjo II, and Poundable.
The opportunities in agriculture in Nigeria are enormous, however, commodity prices can be very volatile and unpredictable. Historical performance is not often a reliable indicator of future prices in most cases. Raw cassava tubers are selling for about 30,000 Naira per ton right now in Nigeria.
What is the average export price for cassava in Nigeria? The average cassava export price stood at $755 per ton in 2021, growing by 14% against the previous year.
One of the major positive attributes of cassava is that it does not have a specific harvesting period. Roots may be harvested any time between six months and two years after planting.
Roots can be harvested between 6 months and 3 years after planting. Apart from food, cassava is very versatile and its derivatives and starch are applicable in many types of products such as foods, confectionery, sweeteners, glues, plywood, textiles, paper, biodegradable products, monosodium glutamate, and drugs.
In conclusion, the cassava is one of the most important cash crops in the world, and due to this, investing in cassava farming is sure to be a lucrative venture, as long as you have the sufficient training required to get started and turn viable profits.
Although the food security role of cassava is widely attributed to its availability during times of food shortages, the crop has increasingly become an important source of cash income.
Soft rot of cassava (Manihot utilissima Pohl) was found to be caused by Lasiodiplodia theobromae (Pat.)Griff.& Mobl., Trichoderma harzianum Rifai, Cylindrocarpon candidum (Link) Wollenw., Aspergillus niger van Tieghem and Aspergillusflavus Link.
The potential disadvantages of cassava roots are their bulk and rapid perishability, their low protein content and the presence of cyanide in all root tissues. Through simple processing, the disadvantages of bulk and perishability can be overcome: a stable product is reached when moisture content falls below 14%.
Cassava roots, unlike any other tuber crop, suffer a remarkably short shelf life due to a physiological deterioration. The extent of deterioration depends upon the degree of mechanical damage by roots as well as the genotype. It occurs in two phases, primary and secondary deterioration.
You will only be able to grow the cassava plant as a perennial started in spring if you live in a warm region like Florida, where it is most similar to the tropical and subtropical climates it is grown in its native habitats.
United States imports Cassava primarily from: Costa Rica ($63.6M), Mexico ($22.4M), China ($7.94M), Ecuador ($6.15M), and Dominican Republic ($6.13M). The fastest growing import markets in Cassava for United States between 2019 and 2020 were Mexico ($3.31M), Honduras ($1.01M), and China ($920k).
cassava, (Manihot esculenta), also called manioc, mandioca, or yuca, tuberous edible plant of the spurge family (Euphorbiaceae) from the American tropics.
Cassava, an edible tuberous root often made into flour, contains cyanogenic glycosides, which can result in fatal cyanide poisoning if not properly detoxified by soaking, drying, and scraping before being consumed.
Is cassava toxic? People should not eat cassava raw, because it contains naturally occurring forms of cyanide, which are toxic to ingest. Soaking and cooking cassava makes these compounds harmless.
1. Production risks stem from the uncertain natural growth processes of crops and livestock, with typical sources of these risks related to weather and climate (temperature and precipitation) and pests and diseases.
Cassava as a root crop requires a substantial amount of moisture in the first 3–4 months of its growth; hence, soils with high water holding capacity culminating in high water table for the root absorption are highly essential for optimum production. However, waterlogged conditions must be avoided.
Masika is the long rainy season which occurs from March to June. Although some farmers plant cassava in Masika, it's more common for them to plant during the short “Vuli” rainy season, which runs from October to December.
Cassava is the basis of a multitude of products, including food, flour, animal feed, alcohol, starches for sizing paper and textiles, sweeteners, prepared foods and bio-degradable products. The products are derived from a number of forms of cassava, ranging from fresh leaves and roots to modified cassava starch.
Cassava can grow on a wide range of soils, but is best adapted to well-drained, light-textured, deep soils of intermediate fertility. Under high fertility conditions top growth may be stimulated at the expense of root growth. Optimum soil pH is between 4.5 and 6.5.
Cassava is traditionally grown in a savanna climate, but can be grown in extremes of rainfall; however, it does not tolerate flooding. In droughty areas it looses its leaves to conserve moisture, producing new leaves when rains resume.
Previous studies on the storage of fresh cassava roots have reported durations of 11 days [12,13,14], 11 to 21 days [15], 14 days [16], one month, and two months under cooler conditions.
The shelf life of the cassava varies depending on the harvesting method and treatment. Harvesting cassava by removing the leaves two weeks prior provides a shelf life of two weeks. If the leaves are not pulled, the cassava will spoil within three days. The small extra effort is well worth it in terms of economics.
The average yield in the United States was estimated at a record high 177.0 bushels per acre, 5.6 bushels above the 2020 yield of 171.4 bushels per acre.
To obtain bushels per acre, divide the number 2 bushels by the acreage harvested. Measure 1/1000 of an acre (see chart below) in several locations across a field. Count the plants, average, then multiply by 1000.
The global cassava processing market attained a volume of 276.89 million tons in 2022, driven by the thriving food sector and increasing demand for processed cassava in the feed industry.
Nigerian cassava production is by far the largest in the world; a third more than production in Brazil and almost double the production of Indonesia and Thailand.
The best month to begin planting cassava is in October, at the beginning of the short raining season. Subsequently, cassava matures rather quickly. Early-maturing high-yield varieties are harvested 6-7 months after planting, while the late-maturing variety can be ready for harvest after 12months.
So 1 ton of fresh cassava can produce more than 250kg garri, if your bags is 50kg, you will get more than 5 bags of garri. The premise of this data is to use garri processing equipment to make garri. Now we mainly introduce the influence of garri process technology on the yield.
Intercrops like greengram, cowpea, blackgram or groundnut gave an additional income without adversely affecting the yield of main crop and also recorded higher profit than sole cassava (Kuruvilla Varughese et al.,1988).
There are dozens of reasons why farmers consider wasabi the most difficult crop to grow of all time. The wrong nutrient composition or too much humidity will kill wasabi. It is extremely susceptible to diseases and bugs when grown in large scales.
North Dakota was ranked as the first leading wheat production state with about 299.9 million bushels produced in 2022. Kansas was the leading state in 2021, with about 364 million bushels produced.
Cassava products with huge investment opportunities include; starch, quality flour and chips for use as raw materials in bakeries, breweries, bioethanol, paperboards, bio-degradable plastics, animal feeds and textiles.
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