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CASSAVA. PRESENTED BY: ANTONIA MURRAY. The Cassava Plant. It can grow to about 15 feet tall. The cassava plant is made up of two main parts, the leaves and the woody shrub root, both of these parts of the plant serves as a food source.
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CASSAVA PRESENTED BY: ANTONIA MURRAY
The Cassava Plant • It can grow to about 15 feet tall. • The cassava plant is made up of two main parts, the leaves and the woody shrub root, both of these parts of the plant serves as a food source. • Most of my research focused on the tuberous root of the plant. • The root is the main part of the plant that is used as a food source and it is dark brown on the outside and white or yellowish on the inside. • It is known as other names such as cassada, yuca, manioc, mogo, mandioca, boba and kappa
Cassava Facts • It can withstand very unfavorable and extreme conditions like acid infertile soils. • This is one of the unique and great characteristics of this crop; it produces well in perfect soil conditions but can still adequately produce in horrid conditions. • It can be harvested between 10 and 30 months. • It stands to be the fourth largest staple in the world after, wheat, rice and maize. • It is the third largest source of carbohydrates in plants used for food in the world. • About 500 million people around the world depend cassava as a staple food. • The root can come in two forms, sweet or bitter.
History of The Plant • The scientific name Manihot Esculenta Crantz. • The cassava plant is the only species in its genus group that serves as a foodcrop. • The first variety of the cassava plant showed up about 10,000 years BC ago in Brazil where it was domesticated. • At about 6,600 BC the cassava pollen makes its way to the Mexican lowlands and evidenced of this is found in the Sand Andres archaeological site. • It was domesticated in Mexico at about 2,000 to 4,000 BC. • This traces the roots of the plant all the way from Brazil, and it made its way through South America through colonialism.
History of The Plant cont… • The Portuguese, through interactions with Southern America were the first to aid in spreading the crop to other parts of the world. • In the sixteenth century they brought the crop to the Gulf of Guinea and this was the first introduction into the African continent. • In the eighteenth century it was brought by the Portuguese again to the East coast of Africa and the Indian Ocean islands like Madagascar. • It is also believed that they were responsible for introducing the crop to the continent of Asia. • It has become an integral part of life for people all over the world; it traveled from South America, to Africa to Asia.
The Crop and Its Place In The World • The crop serves as a staple food in Central America, The Caribbean, South America, Africa and Asia. • Interestingly despite the fact that the largest producer of the crop stands to be Africa, Thailand is largest exporter of the crop, accounting for about seventy-seven percent of the world wide export of cassava. • Thailand grows the crop for export purposes, Brazil produces it for industrial purposes and Africa produces it for local food expenditure. • It tends to be a food that is consumed by mainly developing nations. Other countries acquire it for industrial uses. • one third of the African population gets more than half of their daily calories from foods made from the cassava root. • It serves as a great source of income for the small scale farmers and they are also able to provide food for their families as well.
Cassava In Latin America • The crop originated from Latin America, but today only about twenty percent of production worldwide comes from there. • Brazil provides about seventy five percent of the production from this area. • They have suffered fewer losses than Africa because they have developed resistant genes to pest or strains that can tolerate the pests. • Only about thirty-five to forty percent of production goes towards food consumption. Ten percent of production is lost to post harvest deterioration. That leaves from about fifty-five to fifty percent that goes towards animal feed and exports. • Most of the governments in these countries have developed programs that help with research and usage of the crop. • The governments have also worked hard at helping their countries form liaisons with foreign markets to sell the crop.
Cassava In Asia • The continent of Asia accounts for about thirty percent of the world production of the crop. • Seventy percent of that comes from Thailand and Indonesia. • Though the continent counts for less that half of all production of the crop they are the premier exporters of it. • Only forty percent of the crop produced goes towards food consumption the rest is either waste, animal feed or starch production for export or local use. • Most of the time people who eat cassava are eating it as a substitute to rice, due to lack of finances or shortage. • Locally the starch can be used to make noodles, cakes and pastries and in this form it is much more acceptable than eating the raw crop itself. It serves many industrial and household uses, from tapioca to textiles.
Cassava In Africa • Africa is the largest producer of the crop. • It accounts for 50 percent of production worldwide. • 50 percent of that comes from Nigeria. • Cassava is not only a staple food, but also serves as a means of income. However, it is first and foremost for consumption. • The rapid increase in cassava production in Africa can be accredited to social and political policies. For example farmers will grow the crop as a back up, incase there was a drought. In the mid 1980s government funding was reduced towards cereal and cash crop production, during this period there was rapid increase in cassava production. In Nigeria for example there was a demand from the government to reduce the dependency of the nation on cereal products. This led to bans on the import of wheat and rice, cassava production increased during this time as well. • In these countries where it is grown for food consumption the woman is usually in charge of taking care of the crop. • In the future, Africa will most likely continue to be the largest producer and most dependent continent of the crop.
Engineering of Cassava • In recent years the engineering of food commodities have become something that is very common and accepted. • The cassava plant is no exception, scientist have been working to engineer the plant so that it contains more vitamins, minerals and proteins. • The logic behind the engineering of the plant is that fact that it tends to be a staple food for many in developing nations, with focus on Africa. With the engineering of the plant the people in these nations can have their daily needs in food nutrients met. • A project called the Cassava Plus Project, which is funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation, is almost underway and the new engineered plant is scheduled to be tested in two African nations (Kenya and Nigeria) by 2010. • The new engineered plant has been made to reduce the cyanogens in the plant that can be poisonous, increased starch quality and foreign genes have been introduced in it for resistance toward viruses and diseases.
Characteristics of Cassava • One of the problems that are encountered when exporting the cassava root is the Post-harvest Physiological Deterioration (PPD). The deterioration occurs with the separation of the roots from the plant. The root loses it capabilities of healing itself from damage when the plant source is lost. This is part of the reason why the crop cannot be transported long distances, to make great profits • In an effort to prolong that life of the root once it is detached from the plant source, another form of preservation is used. It involves the coating of the crop with paraffin wax, along with a fungicide, even though sometimes it can be done without the fungicide. Through this method the life of the crop is extended to about two months longer. • The cassava root is toxic because it contains the chemical cyanogenic glucoside which becomes cyanide in the presence of the enzyme linamarase which is found naturally in cassava; this is another reason why processing of the root is so important. • Eating cassava raw without treating it is life threatening, because it can lead to paralytic neurological disease. This disease is the result of an accumulation of cyanide in the system.
Cassava Pests • Pest control is also an important aspect of cassava production; it affects everything from the yields of the crop to the preservation of the crop once harvested. • The African Cassava Mosaic Virus (ACMV), it is spread by the whitefly which is found in many cassava growing areas. • Interestingly this virus is only present in Africa, which leads researchers to speculate that it might have developed there. • Solutions to this infestation include rouging the plants which is a qualitative and quantitative observation of the plant such as the planting date, the size of the plant and the density of the plant. • Sanitation is also another method used, where the plants a selected careful before transplant in an effort to stop the spread.
Processing - Garri • Garri is a food product that it eaten extensively in West Africa, it is an important and serves as a staple food to many people. • Garri is the product of one of the many ways that the cassava plant can be processed. • This process calls for the fresh cassava root to be grated and then left for fermentation is wicker baskets for about five days. The fermentation part of the process is done to remove the cyanide which the root contains. The tiny granular particles are then roasted to remove microorganisms and bacteria. It is then cooled at a room temperature and the result (garri) is packaged for storage and is encouraged to be stored in a cool place. • A vast majority of garri is produced on a small scale by farmers or housewives. • Due to the fact that the processing of the product is done on the small scale, there is room for contamination of the product. • Studies show that in the fermentation process of the cassava root, there are bacteria and yeast present. It is inevitable however, to stop the presence of the yeast and bacteria; however the presence of some of the bacteria can be drastically reduced if sterile graters are used in the process
Processing - Tapioca • Tapioca is made from the starch of the cassava root. • Tapioca is a gluten free and protein free food, which makes it ideal for people with food allergies. • Most people are familiar with the pearl tapioca form and depending on the region it might have different uses, but in most places it is used as a thickening agent. • The pearls are normally soaked before cooking and most of the time is used in tapioca pudding. • In processing, moist starch is forced through a sieve and pearl tapioca is formed and dried up. The pearls are normally soaked before cooking and most of the time is used in tapioca pudding.
Processing - Fufu • Another famous product of cassava that is found in the continent of Africa is Fufu. • It is a staple food that is found in West and Central Africa. • It is a thick paste that has the consistency of mashed potatoes that is normally made from starchy roots like yam, plantains, corn cocoyam or cassava. • The root is boiled in water and then it is pounded to form the paste. • The paste can be eaten with soup or stew and is a delicacy to the West African and Central African people.
Other Uses For Cassava • In recent years, research has been performed to analyze the usage of cassava as an ethanol bio-fuel. • Investments have been made towards this project and are expected to yield about thirty three million gallons a year of bio-ethanol from the cassava plant. • It is also used as animal feed and this is a big sector of the cassava market these days. • The European community is a big consumer of the animal feed and accounts for about 80 percent of all feed that is trade in the world market. • The feed is made in the form of chips and pellets, or very young cassava plants are harvested and fed to livestock.
Cassava Trade • Starch production is one of the lucrative markets for cassava in the industrial world. • In starch production about four to five tons of the tubers are used to produce one ton of starch. • The industrialization of cassava represents about four percent on the world level of production, with most of the cassava starch industries located in Asia. • The processing of cassava into starch is found in large scale factories in countries such as Vietnam, China, and Thailand. • Only in Thailand is the production used for local purposes in China and Vietnam it is mainly an export product. • In the past, factories have been set up in some Africa nations, but the problem with the industry is lack of availability of the roots for processing • Trade of the fresh produce is limited due to post harvest deterioration, so most of the time trade of the fresh produce occurs between neighboring nations, so that there is less transportation time. • Within countries themselves, especially those in Africa there is a lack of infrastructure for the transportation of the crop.
Cassava Trade cont… • Even though the Asia Nations account for most of the export of the crop, small scale exports also come out of Africa and Latin America. • The target market for the export of the crop is tends to be Europe, mainly due to the need for feed. • In recent years however, there has been an increase in the exporting of the fresh crop to North America from Latin America and Africa. • Costa Rica for example now ships about 35 tons of fresh cassava yearly to the United States. • In Europe for example we see that the demand for the cassava chips is highly tied to their livestock production. • Even though the animal feed market is the biggest for the crop, it is only benefited mostly by the Asian nations because they supply majority of the European Community needs. • If African nations can find a way to get into this market, it could mean more income for its people. However, it could not necessarily mean that the hungry in these nations will get fed.
Cassava Trade cont… • The starch and cassava flour of all the trades possesses the highest tariffs. It ranges from Zero in North America to 480 percent in Korea. • The reason for the high tariffs in Korea is unknown and maybe it is the result of some sort of bad relation. It could also be that they make their own, therefore not wanting any from the outside market. • In the 1970s the price in the market for the chips and pellets range from about sixty-nine to 183 dollars per ton. However, there has been a decline since then. • It has stayed pretty stagnant since then and it has to do with the fact that it is highly competitive in the market of starches. • Overall the market for the cassava products is not bad, could be better in some ways, but it still quite profitable.
What Does The Future Hold? • In the future cassava is expected to continue to grow, especially when regions in Africa and Asia might eventually move from the varieties that they are planting now to the high yielding ones. • This could mean more cassava produced, which could mean more people fed and more available to exports to make income. • However if this change is to happen across the scale for all who produce the crop, it could mean no change at all in the lives of the people. • It is also predicted that there will be a rise in the consumption of the crop especially in Africa, as the population continues to increase. • The market for the feed of animals in also expected to increase, due to the movement in the past couple of years away from grains. This could help put cassava feed back into the market. • Whether this is good or bad is still unclear.
