Its importance as a food security crop is high due to its ability to produce reasonable yields in poor soils and with minimal inputs. Traditionally a famine reserve and a subsistence crop, the status of cassava is now evolving fast as a cash crop and as raw material in the production of starch (and starch based products), energy (bio-ethanol) and livestock feed in the major producing countries. Cassava leaves, which are rich in protein and beta-carotenoids, are also used as a vegetable and forage (fresh or dehydrated meal) in various parts of the world.
A robust national policy, market development, and dissemination and extension programmes are required to realise the full potential of innovations and technologies in cassava production and processing.
Cassava was first introduced to the Africa continent, close to the mouth of the Congo River by Portuguese explorers and traders from Brazil, South America in the course of the 16th and 17th centuries. From there it was diffused by Africans, to many parts of sub-Saharan Africa over a period of two to three hundred years. In the course of its spreading across the continent, cassava has replaced traditional staples such as millet and yam, and has been successfully incorporated into many farming systems. It was initially adopted as a famine reserve crop as it provided a more reliable source of food during drought, locust attacks and the hungry season, the period before seasonal food crops are ready for harvesting. At present, approximately half of the world production of cassava is in Africa where it is cultivated in around 40 countries. Cassava is grown by millions of poor African farmers, many of them women, often on marginal land. For these people, the crop is vital for both food security and income generation.
On the basis of current projections, it is expected that by 2020, over 60 per cent of global cassava production will be in sub-Saharan Africa, where economic growth will be slow but population growth fast.
In Tanzania plans are afoot for the Anglican’s Diocese of Central Tanganyika and an Indian investor, Ramani Veerappan, to open an ultra-modern cassava processing plant in Hombolo ward, Dodoma region.
If all goes well, through the envisioned pact, the Anglican diocese will provide a total of 100 acres for the construction of the said plant, whereby the foreign investor will be responsible for construction of the factory, installment of machines, as well as other relevant facilities.
However, in ensuring abundant supply of raw materials, the diocese is expected to cultivate at least 1,000 acres of cassava nearby the factory.
We are told the talks have reached a crucial stage and both sides are demonstrating high spirits and readiness to have the project start as soon as possible.
Upon its completion, the facility is expected to stimulate cultivation of the tubers in the central zone corridor, a move which will also see many households cheat poverty through cultivating and selling the cash crop to the plant.
Most farmers in central zone are currently in forefront to acquire chunk land for establishing cassava plantation due to recently news released during the China- ASEAN Expo (CAEXPO) 2018 that some Chinese traders want to chip in the county and invest in cassava processing factories.
Tanzania is the twelfth largest producer of cassava in the world, and the sixth in Africa after Nigeria, DRC, Ghana, Angola, and Mozambique.
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