General Information
The cassava is:
Improving the livelihoods of smallholder upland farmers in Laos and Cambodia through improved and integrated cassava-based cropping and livestock systems is a priority project of The Nippon Foundation. To this end, the foundation is funding a cassava research project implemented by the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT, its Spanish acronym) in Asia.
Cassava is currently the third most important crop in Laos, after rice and maize. It is widely grown throughout the country by upland farmers, but up until recently it has been grown in small areas using local varieties and with very few inputs. The roots are used mainly for human consumption and for feeding livestock, especially pigs. Young shoots are also harvested for human consumption.
Livestock are a vital safety net for vulnerable upland farmers in Indochina. Feed shortages are a common and major constraint to improving these livestock systems, but recent research in the region has demonstrated that dried cassava roots and leaves can overcome this problem, as a feed supplement for pigs, cattle, fish and poultry.
This cassava project enlists local farmers' participation in the evaluation, development and dissemination of new varieties, improved production practices and more efficient animal feeding practices--something that will increase yields and income for upland farmers. work commenced in Laos in April 2004 and expanded to Cambodia in 2005. By growing cassava to feed their animals, the farmers are discovering a new source of cash income. Any strategy to assist these poor farmers has to tackle the issue at several levels: the stimulation of growth in agricultural productivity, the raising of incomes, and the conservation of environmental resources.
Increasing population pressure in upland areas of Laos has resulted in such environmental changes as deforestation and increased soil erosion. This has meant a loss of soil fertility, increased weed pressure, and lower yields for the already poor rice farmers.
CIAT has been working to address these issues for nearly 20 years. Through its programs, cassava farmers in Laos and Southeast Asia are conducting research to control erosion on their tiny hillside farms in a project funded by the Nippon Foundation in partnership with international and national scientists. The farmers test and refine new technologies in their own fields. The project provides accessible techniques and technical guidance that enable farmers to reduce erosion while intensifying cassava production.
Cassava, which thrives under difficult conditions, is one of the few crops that can be cultivated on the marginal hillsides. Its starchy root was a staple food during the war years in Vietnam and China-as it is now in many drought or war stricken areas of Africa. "Cassava production in Asia has almost doubled in the last twenty years," says Reinhardt Howeler of the CIAT Cassava Office for Asia, based in Bangkok. "It is now the third most important food crop here. Even so, since many people associate cassava with hard times, they eat less of it--but continue producing it for on-farm feeding of pigs or for the starch and animal feed industries. In fact, cassava is the principal source of income for some of the poorest Asian farmers; nothing else will grow in their dry, infertile soil."
The Nippon Foundation has also funded similar cassava projects in China, Thailand, and Vietnam: use of cassava roots and leaves for animal feeding, the latest developments in cassava processing into starch and many starch-derived products, as well as the development of cassava growth models.
Domestic and international starch manufacturers are requiring increased supplies of cassava roots. Cassava starch is a base for modern manufacturing of pharmaceutical products, sweeteners, and flavoring agents such as monosodium glutamate. It is also used in the production of biodegradable plastics. Japan imports about 200,000 metric tons of processed cassava yearly.
Rising demand offers farmers a compelling incentive to adopt the improved varieties they are testing under the Nippon Foundation-funded project. In addition to increasing yield, these varieties grow more quickly, thus establishing ground cover earlier to protect the soil from erosion by wind and rain.
Cassava is also used as a raw material for industrial goods such as plywood. It is one of the highest-yielding starch-producing crops in the world, with a yield greater than rice or corn and second only to sugar cane. Because of this, and because producing starch from cassava is relatively cheap, it is now being eyed as a biomass source for fuel production. Given the current high oil prices, and with many countries moving to increase biofuel use, this is a significant development. Understanding the cassava genome will help to develop the plant to this purpose as well.
The delicious beverage that involves drinking tea and sucking tapioca pearls through a wide straw: Bubble Tea (also known as Pearl Tea) is fast-becoming an American sensation. Our Thai-inspired version is oustanding.
Ingredients
2 cups Thai icetea mix
1 1/3 cups sugar
1/2 cup mint leaves (optional)
1 1/2 cups tapioca pearls
1 cup fresh milk
Wide straws
Method
The Tea: Place Thai icetea mix into stainless tea filter and place in a large pot with 8 cups gently boiling water. Leave the filter handle out of water so you can easily remove the tea later. Keep over medium heat for one hour, then remove tea and fill pot with water to same level you started with (8 cups). Let tea cool and pour into a pitcher. You can leave in refrigerator for a few days, if desired.
The Syrup: In a small saucepan combine sugar, mint leaves and 4 cups water. The recipe still tastes great if you omit the fresh mint, but we recommend mint for not only the mint taste but also the way it blends with Thai tea to create a very "earthy fresh" flavor. Bring to a boil and stir until sugar is dissolved, then strain out the leaves and place in a separate container. Refrigerate.
The Pearls: Start by bringing 12 cups water to a boil in a large pot, then gently add tapioca pearls. Let the pearls cook for 30 minutes, stirring often to keep the pearls from sticking together. Remove from heat, cover and let stand for another 30 minutes. If you prefer the pearls to be more "al dente" you can reduce the cooking time a bit. Strain the pearls and rinse with cool water, transfer to a storage container and mix with about half of the syrup. This allows the pearls to soak up the sweet flavor and keeps them from sticking together. They will keep in the refrigerator like this for about 12 hours.
Using a slotted spoon, place pearls into 16 oz (or larger) serving glasses. The pearls should fill 1/3 of the glass. Pour 2 tablespoons syrup over the pearls. Add more syrup if you prefer a sweeter taste, and add any syrup flavor you like. Mix (or shake) tea separately with fresh milk and ice. We suggest 1 cup milk, more or less as you prefer. Pour the ice/tea/milk mixture into each glass and stir. Garnish with a sprig of fresh mint leaves, and serve with jumbo straws that allow the tapioca pearls to be sucked up as you drink. And there you have it, possibly the greatest tea beverage ever!
Required Ingredients
50g (2ozs) Whitworths Seed Pearl Tapioca
500ml (1pt) Milk
50g (2ozs) Sugar
½tsp Vanilla essence
2 Eggs - separated
Knob of butter
How to make
Servings: 4
Oven temperature: 350ºF 180 ºC Gas mark 4
Foreword, introduction, lists of tables and figures, appendixes, references cited, index.
Cassava is a tropical root crop that is the world's cheapest source of food calories and the staple food of perhaps 400 million people in Asia, Africa, and the Americas. It has an especially important place in the food system of Java, one of the most densely populated and poorest regions of the world.
This study seeks to determine whether increases in cassava production are technically and economically feasible, and, if so, whether increased production might improve food security in Indonesia.
Binding: Hardcover
Book Condition: Fine in Very Good dust jacket
Publisher: Stanford Stanford University Press 1984
Author Name: Falcon, Walter P., et al.
Nigeria continued, a high price for the economy's to pay dependence on strange nations for the supply material of the main food consumer durables. In case of bread that there is a necessity, hybrid cassava flour as to develop means of the avoidance of the difficulties, which are caused by the new global migration in the price of wheat.
The global migration in the food prices would not have affected unfavorably Nigeria, if it were a producing economy; rather the nation the crisis ausgen5utzt to have, in order to cause more wealth, economic development increased and improves the welfare of its citizenry. In the same vein the nation did not become the new bakers' suffered; strike, if them had developed an alternative to wheat flour in bread production. In the country it seems, an exaggerated respect for cassava flour in the comparison with composition or cassava flour gives. People have burdened their minds with the skewed view that cassava cannot be used to make bread and, based on this view, have summarily dismissed the use of cassava for the production of bread. The government, the researchers, the bakers and other keepers must the giant task of the scattering of this rather deeply lying misunderstanding shoulder.
Cassava, known in botanical circles as manihot esculenta crantz, is imbued with multifaceted potentials, but the actualisation of the economic and nutritious potentials depends on the volition and action of humans. The clarion call is for Nigerians to turn to composite or cassava flour, not necessarily as a replacement for wheat flour, but as a diversification alternative aimed at forestalling future bakers' strikes, reducing the cost of bread, boosting the economy and ultimately bettering the lives of the populace. On this note, Sanni Tayo, the chief technologist of the Botany Department, Lagos State University (LASU), called for adequate funding to enable researchers pry into the deep recesses of nature to unearth and magnify the veiled potentials of cassava, thereby developing high-quality hybrids of cassava for bread production.
The fact that cassava is produced in large quantities in Nigeria it supports arguments after the production of bread of cassava. Nigeria among the largest producers of cassava in the world, and into 2002, it was built in a number first in proportion to it produced 34 million tons of cassava. Nervous disorder the organization of food and agriculture by the United Nations (FAO), shows that in Nigeria, " the production of cassava builds into a number is first, followed after the production of sweet potato to 27 million tons into 2002, the sorghum to 7 million tons, by millet to 6 million tons and by rice to 5 million tonnes." It is not similar on in the case the cassava, Nigeria depends heavily on foreign nations for the supply of wheat flour. To above 4 million tons of the import of annually, Nigeria it went by the greatest single importer of wheat from the USA afterward, into 1992, it raised prohibition 1987 it established on the importation of wheat. The ban was meant to encourage and enhance local production of wheat.
If the resources pumped into the importation of wheat flour were channelled into the local production and processing of cassava, it is likely that we would have succeeded not only in making bread more affordable to the masses but in also providing more jobs for the teeming unemployed in the country as well as increasing Nigeria's Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The federal government, through collaboration with research institutions such as International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Ibadan, Federal Institute of Industrial Research Oshodi (FIIRO) and National Root Crops Research Institute (NRCRI),Umahia, can boost cassava production locally. While research institutes such as FAO have set a conservative production target of 60 million tonnes of cassava for Nigeria by 2020, some other experts, extrapolating from historical production levels, have put the target at 150 million tonnes by 2020.
The production of bread from cassava is a veritable measure the government could employ to forestall bakers' strikes. Nigerians are now accustomed to the periodic industrial action of the Association of Master Bakers and Caterers of Nigeria. Just last year the association went on a week-long strike after President Yar'Adua did not succumb to their request of authorising the flour millers to reduce the prices of flour. This year again, the association has embarked on another strike. According to Lateef Oguntoyinbo, the Lagos State Chairman of the association, the strike stemmed from the government's failure to address the hike in flour price against the backdrop of the global food crisis. The prices of bread in the country soared by 25 percent during the period. The minister of Commerce and Industry, Charles Ugwuh, hinged the hike in flour price to the global food crisis, saying, "Whatever may be the cause of the global food crisis its impact on Nigeria is real."
From the above, the onus is on the entirety of Nigerians to ask one pertinent question: For how long shall we continue to catch cold each time the global economy sneezes? Perhaps, it is for as long as the Nigerian economy heavily and inextricably depends on foreign nations for the supply of major food commodities such as wheat and rice. The nation does not have to sneeze each time the global economy catches cold once potent strategies are put in place to cushion the effects of the global "economic cold". One of such strategies is resorting to massive cassava production and exploiting its dormant multifaceted potentials. According to Ghana's Minister of Food and Agriculture, Ernest Akobuor Debrah, Ghana has started deliberating on the use of composite flour for bread production, with the composite flour containing 20 percent of hybrid cassava and 80 percent of wheat. What is Nigeria waiting for?
Some concerns have been raised about the nutritional level of cassava as compared to wheat. According to Richard T. Sayre, a researcher at Ohio University, USA, the protein-to-energy ratio in cassava is dismally low, as typical cassava-based diet gives below 30 percent of the minimum daily protein intake and provides only 10-20 percent of the needed quantities of zinc, iron, and vitamin A and E. In an interview with Business Day, Sanni Tayo, shared Sayre's view, adding that cassava can be toxic and contains a relatively small amount of gluten, which is necessary for consistency in bread. He, however, stated that with some genetic modification, a hybrid cassava with high gluten and high nutrients can be produced, only that the cost of production may be much. "We may want to produce a hybrid cassava that is highly nutritious and high in gluten. However, the cost of producing high-gluten cassava can even be more than that of the ordinary wheat. Since what we are trying to minimise is cost, the project may turn out to be counterproductive," Tayo remarked.
Chris Deillion, the manager of Deillion Bakery, expressed doubt about the acceptability of cassava bread or bread made from composite flour. He argued that consumers are accustomed to wheat flour and the change to cassava flour would be difficult. "People first eat with their eyes before they eat with their mouth. Their taste buds have become accustomed to wheat flour and changing to composite flour would be very difficult," he stressed.
For Deillion, it is myopic to focus on just the hike in wheat flour to the detriment of other vital elements that go into the production of bread. These elements include electricity, sugar, and packaging materials. Focusing on power, he registered his dissatisfaction with the epileptic nature of power supply in the country. "Our generator has been on since 3 00AM and it will remain like this until night," he lamented. Another Lagos-based baker, who pleaded anonymity, opined: "Cassava is already being used for a lot of things, for instance 'fufu', 'lafun' and 'garri'. If we now use it to make bread, we are multiplying its usage. The question is whether the farmers would be able to cope with the demand for cassava if we turn to it for the production of bread."
Martin Oke, a political science student of Lagos State University (LASU), could not just imagine himself eating cassava bread. "If I don't know that the bread is made from cassava I will eat it, but if I know ahead of time, I won't. I believe the taste won't be as good as the one from wheat," he asserted. But Ifeoma Okonkwo, a retailer of wheat flour at Orile market, has a different opinion, "I don't mind eating cassava bread if it would taste nice and be cheaper than the one made from wheat." Asked if wheat flour should be abandoned, she remarked: "Instead of abandoning wheat flour for cassava because of the rising wheat price, bakers may consider buying the two types of flour, produce bread with them and then allow the consumers to make their choice."
I’m gearing up for preschool to start in September, when I won’t be right there to help my son with frustrating food in his meals. This means putting myself in his shoes when I’m packing his lunch, trying to imagine what’d give him problems if he were eating solo. Kids this age are still perfecting utensil use, so it’s important to either cut things small or pack finger food. This month I’m going to try to pack his lunches as if he were already eating on his own, to get both of us into the swing of things.
We did have an eating milestone today, though: Bug successfully used real chopsticks for the first time! I’d packed both fork and chopsticks for him and figured he’d go for the fork, but last week he saw his little friend Maya using little chopsticks and wanted to be like her. He polished off all but a couple pieces of salmon using only chopsticks — I was floored. I guess I should enjoy positive peer pressure while it lasts, right?
Contents of preschooler lunch: Mango and romaine lettuce with homemade vinaigrette, grilled wild salmon with a mustard seed glaze, and boiled cassava root (a.k.a. yuca, manioc or casava) with salsa Criolla (Creole sauce: a vinegary fresh salsa often served with grilled meats or vegetables). My husband and I had some outstanding roasted cassava and salsa Criolla last month at a local Peruvian restaurant, so I made a note to duplicate it at home. I took a shortcut by boiling the cassava instead of roasting or grilling it, but the vinegary salsa complemented the potato-like cassava nicely.
Morning prep time: 8 minutes, using all leftovers from dinner.
Packing: Bug isn’t a fan of mixed salads, so I separated out the lettuce from the mango and put his dressing in a cute sauce container. I cut the salmon and cassava into bite-size pieces and removed the salmon skin to head off eating frustration. There’s a tough little stringy bit that runs through the very center of the cassava, so I removed that as well. Packed in a single 350ml container from a Lock & Lock lunch set.
Cookbook: I found the Creole salsa recipe in award-winning cookbook The Book of Latin American Cooking by Elisabeth Lambert Ortiz. From the book jacket: She “describes how the Spanish, Portuguese, African, and Middle Eastern influences have combined with the indiginous cooking of the Maya, Aztec, and Inca civilizations.” An interesting read with extensive commentary on each recipe.
My lunch: Contents are the same as Bug’s, but the grilled salmon is intact, the salad is mixed up, and the cassava is in larger pieces. Because I didn’t have to cut things up, I was able to pack this in 5 minutes.
Packing: I rotated the cassava chunks in the box to create gaps in the corners for the fresh salsa. This saved me from using sauce containers or condiment cups, and the salsa was dry enough that it didn’t leak sauce onto the salad. But if it had leaked, the vinegar of the salsa would have complemented the vinaigrette for the salad, so I didn’t worry too much about it. Of course, after I packed this up, I shoved it unceremoniously into the diaper bag sideways, cassava-side first. Yes, I know Japanese books say you should carry your bento flat, but that’s just not practical for our lifestyle. So our lunches are packed to survive rough treatment. Packed in a 500ml Leaflet bento box, which is actually a little small for an adult woman my height, according to the bento box size guidelines.
MANILLA, Philippines--The Eastern Renewables fuels Corp., a complete subsidiary company of Eastern crude Corp., intend its cassava planting to 4,500 hectares this extend year to meet the growing question to biofuel, said the most senior official of the parent company.
The company has harvested cassava of first 1,000 hectares and will be shipped the cassava chips to the facility of the ethyl alcohol processing of its partner in China, said the service of the agriculture company of the state Guanxi, the Eastern President and the president Fernando Martinez of the crude.
Martinez said Eastern Renewables hoped the cassava of further 3,500 hectares by March next harvest year.
He said that since the company to elaboration had still a facility of the ethyl alcohol refining in the Philippines the cassava which is harvested of its plantings to Guanxi for processing to remain would be shipped.
What we here will produce for processing to be and consumption in China, he said, but we can also reflect the redeeming processed ethyl alcohol, especially when put mixture obliges. Effective within the framework of biofuels law, the petrol becomes which is divided in the Philippines ethyl alcohol contents of at least five in 2009 must.
Put mixture obliges will increase up to at least 10 at four years after the enforcement of the law. Eastern Renewables have cassava plantings in the provinces of Zambales, Sarangani, Davao del Norte and south Cotabato and in general Santos City. The eyeing also a macula the petrochemical park of government-owned PNOC Alternative Fuels Corp, in province Bataan, where it plants an installation and depot of ethyl alcohol production to elaboration.
The yams to be an hybrid mixture of sweet potato, of course wet and tasty. Bruce´s use only the dear of yam, with a method of drievoudig-stadiumschil which tally gone 45% of the outside to get to the tastiest part. And are harvested, like with our other vegetable products Bruce´s, our yams and within 24 hours after leave of the area been possible.
The Yams van Bruce´s are yams favoriete America´s. during the holiday of the Dankzegging, sell Bruce´s than 35% of all been possible yams, equaling millions can more. The consumers love our yams because they are high in beta carotene and carry the healthy control sign connection of the heart of the American association of the heart. The mark-tied peels the production process of Bruce´s the yams to ' Sweetheart' of yam.
The small spaanders and the pieces yams are removed during our processing to produce a golden, wet more closely developed, uniform sweet potato in a clear, golden stroop. Moreover, we cause most complete offer of the products of the sweet potato available including the pan of filling of the torta of the sweet potato, sweet potato with upper topping, Yams in the orange sauce of the pineapple, and glazed Yams.
The brilliance of yam of Bruce´s is kruiden covers being appropriate sweet potatoes been possible to fresh or when again hydrated, microwaved or baked.
According to the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO), Nigeria is about the largest producer of cassava in the world. Yet, the global food crisis has impacted on the price of gari, the most common food product derived from cassava. The price of gari, also a staple food in the country is on the rise. While the phenomenal increase in the price of rice may be explainable as a very large proportion of rice consumed is imported, there is no justifiable reason for such rise in the price of gari and other items derived from it. This is because cassava consumed and used is grown in this country and there is capacity to grow more.
In recent years, several uses have been discovered for cassava such that the uses of the products derived from it cut across different industries within and outside the country. Cassava is used in the production of chips, flour, starch, ethanol, gari, fufu, glucose, bakery, livestock feed, glue.
There have been several calls by Nigerians to investigate the reasons for the rise in price of gari. Some insist that exportation of cassava or its products should be stopped so that the supply in the country would be so much that the price would fall and become affordable to even the poorest of Nigerian consumers.
But another school of thought is that rather than force down the price of the commodity by policy instrument, massive production of cassava should be encouraged to meet the increasing demand for industrial uses and still affordable as food. Nigeria has already has all it takes. Cassava grows in different types of soils and other climatic factors in Nigeria encourage its growth. Ensuring cassava is in abundance for food is crucial for food security in Nigeria and Africa in general. It is often referred to as Africa's drought crop and war crop. In some parts of Nigeria and the rest of Africa, it has been the shield against outright death from hunger for millions of people. If the cassava is not available is not sufficient to feed the teeming population, supply.
Justification
About two decades ago and beyond, massive cultivation of cassava would not be regarded as a wise entrepreneurial venture. But in recent times, massive cultivation of cassava is a wise investment especially for the investor who processes it for the end-users - consumers or industries. If the majority of dealers continue to buy rather than produce the crop, the tide of hunger pervading the land would not be stopped.
Therefore, we shall explore investing in cassava from the basics of growing it to the processing, marketing for food, utilisation in industries, exports markets, governmental and other agencies' support for cassava growers and processors.
Based on the FAO research, cultivation of cassava can be done in the following way:
Choice of land
Choose well-drained, deep, loamy soils. Where such is not available, sandy and clayey soils can be managed intensively for cassava production. However, very sandy and clayey soils should be avoided.
Land preparation: The texture and water table of the soil will guide you in your choice of land preparation method. Planting on the flat is recommended when the soil is deep and well drained as in sandy loam soils. Shallow and clayey soils should be tilled and ridged. Soils prone to water-logging require ridges or mounds. Planting on ridges or mounds is a general practice in the rain forest and derived savanna zones in Nigeria.
Choosing a variety
Carefully select varieties with multiple pest and disease resistance, high and stable root yields and acceptable quality characteristics that meet end users' requirements for food (gari, fufu, fermented flour etc) and industrial raw material (starch, chips, pellets, unfermented flour etc). The major genetic factor that determines quality of roots is dry matter content.
Recommended varieties
Several improved varieties of cassava have been recommended and released in Nigeria. The most commonly grown of these are TMS 30572, 4(2)1425, 92/0326 and NR 8082. More recently 42 new improved genotypes have been made available to farmers in the South-south and South-east for participatory selection so that they can identify specific best-bet varieties for each of the cassava growing communities. For now, you could choose any of the commonly grown improved varieties for planting since they are stable across environments. However, you will also need to select the variety with the highest performance in your farm site and environs.
Acquisition of planting materials
Stems of improved varieties can be obtained from National Seed Service (NSS), state offices of Agricultural Development Programs (ADP), the Cassava Growers Association (CGA) and several out-growers who produce quality stems for sale. Stems are usually tied in bundles each having 50 stems that are 1metre long. Fifty of such bundles are needed to plant one hectare of land.
Stem storage
Keep bundles of stems stacked vertically on the soil under a shade. The distal end of the stem should touch the soil. Moisten the soil regularly and keep the surrounding weed free. This way you can store your stems for more than three months. Under low relative humidity and heat stress store your stems in pits under shade.
Stem quality
Cassava stakes (cuttings) for planting should be taken from plants 8 - 18 months old. Stakes taken from older plants are lignified and they perform poorly due to delayed sprouting and rooting. A mature cassava stem has 3 sections - hardwood, semi-hardwood and shoot-tip. The hard and semi-hardwood sections are the best for planting. Shoot tips are very fragile and have high mortality rate especially if they are subjected to moisture stress during the first month after planting. If you must source planting materials from an old field (over 18 months) the semi-hardwood section gives the best quality.
Preparation of planting materials
Use sharp tools preferably a secateur or cutlass to cut stems into stakes for planting. Avoid bruising the stems. Smooth cuts enhance root yields through rapid and uniform root development from the cut surface. The recommended length of stakes is 20-25 cm with 5 or more nodes. Mini-stakes (10 cm) are required for multiplication while micro-stakes (3-5 cm) are used for rapid multiplication.
Handling of stakes
Stakes should be planted soon after they are cut otherwise they get dehydrated and perform poorly. If stakes must be stored for a few days (3-5 days) before planting put them into transparent polyethylene bags. You can also gather the stakes together under shade and cover with a plastic bag. The high relative humidity and temperature within the bag usually induce rapid sprouting and rooting of stakes. Plant vigour, survival rate and yields are better if stakes are pre-sprouted before planting.
Time of planting
Planting should be done as soon as the rains become steady in your area. This varies from March to November in the rain forest, April to August in the derived savanna, May to July in the Southern Guinea savanna (SGS) and July to August in the Northern Guinea savanna (NGS).
Method of planting
Stakes can be planted vertically (buds facing up with 2/3 of the stake in the soil), horizontally (whole stake buried 3-5 cm in the soil) or inclined (buds facing up with 2/3 of the stake buried in the soil at an angle of about 45o). When stakes are planted vertically tuberous roots bulk deep into the soil. Although this gives more stability to the plant against lodging, it makes harvesting very difficult. This orientation is recommended for sandy soils. Stakes planted horizontally produce multiple stems and more tuberous roots but they are comparatively smaller in size. The roots are produced near the surface and they are easily exposed to mechanical damage and to rodents. However, in loamy and rich soils the multiple stems and roots are at an advantage resulting in high yields.
Stakes that are inclined on the ridge produce tuberous roots in the same direction. The inclination of the stem and roots provide a leverage which make harvesting easier than in the other orientations. In shallow and clayey soils, stakes should be inclined. In the rain forest and derived savannah, farmers incline their stakes at planting.
Plant population
The optimum plant population for high root yield is 10,000 plants per hectare obtainable when plants are spaced at 1 x 1 m. This population is seldom achieved at harvest due to losses caused by genetic and environmental factors. In order to harvest a plant population near the optimum an initial plant population/ha of 12300 at 0.9 x 0.9m is recommended. Plant spacing and population will vary depending on if cassava is planted sole or in association with other crops.
Intercropping
Cassava is compatible with many crops when intercropped. The best intercrops of cassava in Nigeria include maize, melon, groundnut, cowpea and vegetables. Other less important intercrops particularly in the South-south and South-eastern Nigeria include yam, cocoyam, sweet potato, plantain and banana. Non or high branching varieties of cassava are best for intercropping. Profuse and low branching varieties will shade light off the intercrops. In medium and large-scale farms maize is the best intercrop.
Weed control
This is one of the major limiting factors to production accounting for more than 25 percent of the total cost and time of production. Integrated weed control (cultural, mechanical and chemical) is recommended. The ideal combination will depend on the agro-ecology, weed spectrum and level of infestation, soil type and cropping system.
CASSAVA production should remain paramount as a food choice and surplus production ensured to produce fuel, says the Consumer Council of Fiji.
This comes as the Asian Development Bank said developed nations should stop paying agricultural subsidies to encourage biofuel production because the payments were making staple food more expensive, according to the Associated Press.
"'We feel that the developed countries should seriously rethink the whole issue of biofuel, particularly the biofuel subsidies,'' ADB managing director Rajat Nag said.
The interim Government had earlier said there were talks to build a $40million factory to produce ethanol from cassava.
Consumer council chief executive Premila Kumar said at present, Fiji was dependent on imported fuel, which is the significant contributing factor to high import bill.
"The cassava fuel initiative will provide an alternative to the high importation of petroleum products, which will reduce our importation bill," Ms Kumar said.
She said however, that cassava production should remain paramount as a food choice. Ms Kumar said there was ample land available that could be used to plant cassava for fuel and for food consumption.
Reuters reported that the European Commission would not start to backtrack on its target of getting 10 per cent of its road transport fuel from crops and biomass by 2020.
The January proposals have become increasingly controversial amid soaring world food prices and fears that farm land in developing countries was being diverted from food crops toward others that can be distilled into fuel, according to media reports.
In Papua New Guinea produce ethyl alcohol multi-million-dollar a project would carry out cassava must more than to 5,000 job lead.
The tapioca of company Changhae is behind the project, which sees eventual 500,000 barrels of cassava with a value of $US15 millions which are carried out of PNG each year.
The cassava is a main feeding plant for many in the peaceful area, but it’s economically potential as a source of biofuel starts also is opened up.
A lot of Vele Kagena, of the ministry of PNG of husbandry, says to cassava sale for fuel a whole new market for a lot of rural people will open
"As soon as they nurserymen become, beginning their own grow cassava, they it to the company, absolute " to sell, he said.
"An available market will be, so that as soon as they start sell turnover to the market, they will have cash in their pocket.
"Each way it is going to bring a lot of benefit to the people."
cassava
manioc, the source of tapioca, Manihot esculenta
A starchy pulp made with the roots of this tropical plant.
Synonyms
manioc
tapioca
Scientific names
Manihot esculenta
Manihot sp.
Translation
Afrikaans : maniok
Bambara : bananku
Czech : maniok
Danish : maniok
Dutch : cassave
Fijian : tapioka
Finnish : maniokki
French : manioc
German : maniok
German : Maniok m., Mandioka, Kassava
Guaraní : mandio
Gujarati : mogho
Haitian Creole : manyok
Ilocano : tugi
Indonesian : singkong, ubi kayu, Ketela Pohon, Pohong
Interlingua : cassava
Kannada : mara genasu
Kichwa : lumu
Kikuyu : mianga
Luganda : muwogo
Malayalam : kappa, maracheeni
Malay : singkong, ubi kayu
Portuguese : mandioca, mandioca, aipim, macaxeira
Rotuman : maniok
Sinhala : mannyokka
Spanish : yuca
Swahili : muhogo
Swedish : kassava, maniok
Tagalog : balinghoy
Tamil : maravalli kilangu, kuchivalli kilangu
Thai : mansampalang
Tulu : mara kereng
Vietnamese : sắn (generic term); củ sắn (root)
Vietnamese : khoai mì, khoai sắn
CASSAVA chips, which will be manufactured by Trinidad and Tobago agrarian business relation (TTABA) balanced, in order to register the menu of the drawing in program of the school.
A TTABA it said speakers that CASSAVA chips, which was introduced at the schools was a large success. Accompanied of the pawpaw ketchup, the plate helps to reduce the quantity roti and the rice those on a daily basis at the nation' are served, According to the latest illustrations with 813 schools were served to 132,044 meals on a daily basis. The meals are prepared by 76 food suppliers in the country.
TTABA officials plan to supply Cassava as well as sweet potato chips with the pawpaw ketchup, which is manufactured by the product of garden, which is cultivated by the local farmers.
Thousands of pounds of cassava and sweet potato will be bought from TTABA, that have contracted the cultivators in order to plant the acres of the three harvests, including pawpaw, cassava and sweet potato.
"Wherever we take the integrated circuits of cassava and sweet potato chips with pawpaw ketchup, we have found the consumers enthusiastic", TTABA executive of Farouk Khan, have said.
The TTABA civil employees are now in the argument with the dietetic services of the national schools limited (NSDSL) of the formation ministry in order to include the integrated circuits of the sweet potato and the cassava in the program d' feeding of the school.
NSDSL introduced smart menus in September 2006 under the theme, "Making it cool to eat in school", and reported that pizza, roti, roast chicken with barbecue sauce, fried rice and chunky vegetables, fried chicken, curried channa and potatoes with paratha roti, pommecythere or mango amchar and callaloo would be served to the nation's primary school children.
Manihot esculenta 'Variegata'
Tropical foliage plant grown as an annual in all but southern-most Texas. The variegated form is prized for its vivid chartreuse/yellow patterned leaves. Native of South America.
Exposure:
Full sun; partial sun
Size:
Height 3-4 feet tall, up to 5 feet wide
Care:
Variegated tapioca is a heat lover, and in fact does not grow vigorously until the night temperatures are consistently above about 60 F. This plant requires a well drained soil or container potting mix, but it tolerates a wide range of pH. Keep the growing medium moist, and mulch if planted in the soil. Supplemental fertilization is usually required since this plant displays best when it grows rapidly. Plants are most colorful when grown in full sun.
Other news:
Tapioca is one of the common names of Manihot esculenta 'Variegata' as is cassada, cassava, manioc, yuca, mandioca, shushu, muk shue, cassave, maniok, tapioka, imanoka, maniba, kasaba, katela boodin. The reason we chose the name tapioca is because it is the name of a favorite dessert of mine - tapioca pudding. Tapioca is sort of like Poke Salad made from Poke weed in the Southeastern U.S.-- if the cook doesn't know what he is doing, the meal will kill you! Cooking destroys the prussic acid. In South America, the green leafed Tapioca is grown for its enlarged starch-filled tuberous roots. There is a bitter, poisonous- and a sweet, - nonpoisonous variety of tapioca; however the skin stays poisonous and the sweet variety must be peeled. There are hydrocyanic glucosides (HCN) in all parts of the plant; these glucosides are removed by peeling and boiling in water. The peeled roots of the sweet variety is what the original tapioca pudding was made. I remember enjoying a version of this when I was a baby in Tennessee. I wonder if they were trying to poison me?!? The root of the bitter variety is very poisonous when raw but cooking destroys the hydrocyanic acid -- the cooking water must be discarded just as when cooking Poke Salad. The young leaves are used as vegetable and contain a high amount of vitamin A and C but older leaves are not often used. The bitter ones are grated, diluted in water and pressed in a cylindrical basket-work "press" to extract the juice. The paste of tapioca can be baked into pancake-like bread while the extracted juice is fermented into a strong liquor called kasiri. The juice can also be concentrated and sweetened until it becomes a dark viscous syrup called kasripo (casareep). This syrup has antiseptic properties and is used for flavoring. All of this is to warn folks that variegated tapioca is a clone of a tropical food plant, however, the milky sap of the foliage contains cyanide compounds and SHOULD NOT BE EATEN. Instead of eating this beautiful ornamental plant, go to the closest fast food place to satisfy your hunger. Also, don't worry about your pets eating enough to hurt themselves because all parts of the plants contain distasteful cyanide compounds and have a rough texture which is not very palatable. Deer will eat tapioca but it does not spoil the venison.
