WHY SHOULD WE GROW CASSAVA

1. Highly profitable crop-Cassava is more profitable than maize. The gross margins per hector of Cassava is three times higher than that of maize.

2. Ready Market: Cassava is very easy to sell. The domestic market is huge. Cassava is also used for industrial purposes like in baking, making of cardboards, packaging materials, beer, starch, glue, baking and many more. Therefore the market for both cassava chips and floor is huge

3. Cassava is drought resistant compared to maize, making it a good for household and national food security

4. Cassava is easy to store. The crop can be harvested only as needs arise. The surplus can be stored under ground thereby resulting in low post harvest losses.

5. The crop is desease resistant. No need for insecticides, thus cheaper and easy to manage

6. Can grow almost everywhere, regardless of the soil fertility

7. Multiple uses-. All parts of the plant are useful. Leaves can be used for vegetables, stems are used for planting, roots or tubers can be used to make floor, chips, or can be eaten raw.

8. Widely consumed in many African regions countries. Staple food in many regions

9. Can be processed using the most basic or natural methods like just socking, sun-drying and pounding

10. Huge demand for both domestic and industrial use

11. Can be inter-cropped with other crops like millet, groundnuts and beans

12. Does not require any chemical fertilizers, making it cheaper to grow

13. Rich source of starch and carbohydrates, making it a good security crop

14. Complementarity-Cassava can be consumed together or mixed with other crops. Tates supper with groundnuts, beans. Cassava floor mixed with maize meal tastes better. 

15. Huge potential for commercialization- cassava can easily or will soon be a commercial crop given it's multiple industrial uses like the making of starch, flour, beer etc.

16. Nutritious-Cassava leaves are nutritious with some medicinal properties

#mathardykenaneconomistke

@topfans

CTTO