ABSTRACT
There is an urgent need for transformation of sub-Saharan Africa’s (SSA)’s economic structures to cope with future challenges such as increased food demand, shortages of food and rising unemployment. Increased agricultural production is thus required, not only to feed the growing populations, but also to expand employment into industrial sectors and provide markets for a wider array of processed agricultural products (Snodgrass, 2014). Cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz) has a high potential to meet the above demands in addition to contributing to economic transformation in SSA. More than 90 per cent of cassava produced in SSA is being used as food (Philips et al., 2006). Food security in SSA depends on different farming systems, and cassava is the main crop for both calories and income. Approximately 150 million people depend on cassava as a staple crop, with about 27.8 million tonnes produced annually in eastern Africa (FAOSTAT, 2015). Many West African countries rely on cassava as a food crop, and Nigeria is the world’s largest producer with 54 million tonnes in 2014 (FAOSTAT, 2015). Thailand with a production of 30 million tonnes, and Brazil producing 23 million tonnes, are the two highest cassava-producing countries in Asia and South America, respectively (FAOSTAT, 2015). Despite being the largest producer of cassava, Nigeria, unlike other large producers such as Thailand, does not currently export cassava, but plans to supply China with about 3.2 million tonnes of dry cassava chips in the future (Centre for Management Technology, 2014). Thailand’s market share of cassava exports in 2009 was 83 per cent, followed by Vietnam, Indonesia, China and Brazil (Poramacom et al., 2013). In Southern Africa, cassava is grown to a lesser extent in Zambia and Zimbabwe, but widely cultivated in Mozambique, accounting for about 30 per cent of total national calorie intake (FAOSTAT, 2015). In South Africa, a small number of subsistence farmers grow cassava (Daphne, 1980), and recently national germplasm trials have commenced to select suitable varieties for small-scale farmers. Despite wide cultivation of cassava in many SSA countries, overall yields are low (Nigeria produces 7.72 tonnes/ha compared with Thailand which produces 22.2 tonnes/ha) (FAOSTAT, 2015), due to small-scale and subsistence farming systems that are not efficiently managed (Lopez and El-Sharkawy, 1995). Reversing this trend would provide huge potential for increased productivity and production in Africa.
