The Cassava Transformation: Africa's Best-Kept Secret

by Nweke, Felix I.

• ISBN13: 9780870136023
• ISBN10: 087013602X
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2002-01-01
• Publisher: Michigan State Univ Pr

Summary

Cassava is Africa's second most important food crop. The cassava transformation that is now underway in Africa is fueled by new high-yielding TMS varieties that have transformed cassava from a low-yielding, famine-reserve crop to a high-yielding cash crop for both rural and urban consumers. Despite this on-going transformation, cassava is being neglected by African governments and international donor agencies because of the many myths and half-truths that exist about its nutritional value and its role in farming systems.The Cassava Transformation is a synthesis of the Collaborative Study of Cassava in Africa (COSCA), that was carried out from 1989 to 1997 by gathering primary data from 281 villages in six countries: the Congo, the C#xF4;te d'Ivoire, Ghana, Nigeria, Tanzania, and Uganda. Designed as a follow-up to William O. Jones's classic 1959 work, Manioc in Africa, The Cassava Transformation will be of interest to African policy makers, international donor agencies and food policy analysts.The book highlights the role of cassava as a "powerful poverty fighter" by increasing cassava productivity and driving down the cost of cassava in rural and urban diets. The book also traces the incremental nature of cassava research in Africa over the past 65 years (1935 to 2000), culminating in the releases of the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture's high-yielding TMS varieties in 1977. These new varieties were quickly adopted by farmers in Nigeria, Ghana, and other countries in the 1980s and 1990s as they have increased farm level cassava yields by 40 percent without the addition of fertilizer.

Table of Contents

List of Figures	xi
List of Tables	xiii
Preface	xvi
Cassava and Africa's Food Crisis
Why Cassava?	3	(2)
Cassava: Introduction and Diffusion in Africa	5	(5)
The Cassava Transformation	10	(3)
The Collaborative Study of Cassava in Africa (COSCA)	13	(2)
Plan of This Book	15	(5)
Myths and Half-Truths
Cassava as a Subsistence Crop	20	(1)
Cassava as a Soil Nutrient-Depleting Crop	21	(2)
Cassava as a Women's Crop	23	(4)
Cassava as a Lethal Food	27	(2)
Cassava as a Nutritionally Deficient Food	29	(7)
Cassava's Multiple Roles
Famine-Reserve Crop	36	(3)
Rural Food Staple	39	(1)
Cash Crop and Urban Food Staple	40	(2)
Industrial Raw Material	42	(1)
Livestock Feed	43	(4)
Production Overview
Varieties Grown	47	(4)
Pests and Disease	51	(6)
Area Cultivated	57	(3)
Yield	60	(3)
Production	63	(5)
Genetic Research and the TMS Revolution
Farmer-Led Research	68	(2)
Government Research	70	(9)
Insights and Research Challenges	79	(7)
Agronomic Practices
Three Types of Fallow Systems	86	(2)
Cassava Planting	88	(4)
Cassava Production	92	(3)
Cassava Harvesting	95	(6)
Diffusion of TMS Varieties
TMS Diffusion in Nigeria	101	(9)
The Delayed Diffusion of the TMS Varieties in Ghana	110	(2)
TMS Diffusion in Uganda	112	(4)
The Preparation of Five Cassava Products
Fresh Cassava Roots	116	(1)
Dried Cassava Roots	116	(4)
Pasty Cassava Products	120	(3)
Granulated Cassava Products	123	(1)
Cassava Leaves	124	(2)
Lessons and Challenges	126	(3)
Mechanized Processing
Types of Cassava Processing Machines	129	(5)
The Rise and Fall of Private Large-Scale Processing	134	(1)
Nigeria: Cassava Processing Research and Development	135	(2)
Lessons and Challenges	137	(6)
Gender Surprises
Cassava Production	143	(5)
Access to Improved Technologies by Men and Women	148	(1)
Cassava Processing and Marketing	149	(1)
Gender Surprises: Policy Implications	150	(4)
Consumption
Cassava Consumption Pattern	154	(3)
Pre- and Post-Harvest Losses	157	(1)
Food Expenditure Patterns	158	(3)
Income Elasticity of Demand	161	(7)
New Uses for Cassava: A Nigerian Case Study
Expanding the Use of Cassava in the Livestock Industry	168	(2)
Expanding the Use of Cassava in Food Manufacturing	170	(3)
Expanding the Use of Cassava Starch as an Industrial Raw Material	173	(4)
Beer Malt: A New Use for Dried Cassava Roots	177	(1)
Developing a Cassava-Based Ethanol Industry	178	(7)
The Cassava Transformation: Synthesis
Cassava and Africa's Food Crisis	185	(4)
Genetic Research and the High-Yeielding TMS Varieties	189	(1)
The Diffusion of the TMS Varieties	190	(2)
Post-Harvest Issues: Food Preparation and Mechanized Processing	192	(2)
Gender Surprises	194	(1)
New Uses for Cassava	195	(3)
Policy Implications	198	(6)
Appendix 1: Methods of the COSCA Study
The Study Team	204	(1)
Sampling Procedures	204	(4)
Survey Instruments	208	(3)
Logistics and Supervision	211	(1)
Data Processing	212	(3)
Appendix 2: List of COSCA Collaborators	215	(12)
Appendix 3: List of COSCA Reports
Working Papers	219	(2)
Ph.D. Dissertations	221	(4)
Appendix 4: Demand Function Specifications
Variable Description and Construction	225	(2)
Notes	227	(12)
References	239	(20)
About the Authors	259	(2)
Index	261