ABSTRACT
Most tropical countries are short of calories for human consumption or animal feed, and despite the tremendous potential many of these nations have for growing cassava, few have well-organized efforts to expand cassava production and utilization. Two international agricultural centers, the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) in Nigeria and the Centro Internacional de Agricultura Tropical (CIAT) in Colombia, have large research programs devoted to cassava. CIAT and IITA are both developing germ plasm with superior characters, which national programs can use directly for selection or which they can incorporate in their breeding programs. In the initial phases of program development, the national programs have made extensive use of the training courses offered by the international centers to familiarize scientists with the latest cassava technology. Government policies often interfere with the substitution of cassava for other starchy staples, particularly grains.
