Cassava offers untapped opportunities for peasants

CASSAVA production offers immense untapped opportunities for extending labour use in the country and exploits price peaks in food market that would ultimately lead to increased earnings for smallholder farmers. Tanzania is among the three African countries that produce about 70 per cent of Africa’s cassava output alongside Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Cassava has huge potential to boost farm incomes, reduce rural and urban poverty and help close the food gap. Globally, cassava is the fourth most important staple crop after rice, wheat and maize, and plays an essential role in food security. Currently, about half of the world production of cassava is in Africa. Cassava is cultivated in around 40 African countries, stretching through a wide belt from Madagascar in the Southeast to Senegal and to Cape Verde in the Northwest. Cassava processing for value addition is not only an important strategy for addressing post-harvest losses but the potential to create ...