Cassava Essay

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CHAPTER II REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE AND STUDIES This chapter presents the review of related literature and studies. The review stressed on the presentation of Cassava’s interventions and future investments. Foreign and Local Literature Cassava is a major staple food in the developing world, providing a basic diet for around 502 million people. It is one of the most drought-tolerant crops, capable of growing on marginal soils. Cassava plays a particularly important role in agriculture in developing countries especially in sub-Saharan Africa, Thailand, and Vietnam. Because it does well on poor soils and with low rainfall, and because it is a perennial that can be harvested as required. Its wide harvesting window allows it to act as a famine reserve and is invaluable in managing labor schedules. It also offers flexibility to resource-poor farmers because it serves as either a subsistence or a cash crop. Cassava production is generally influenced by climatic, biological, technical, economic, and institutional or political factors. Most of the production increases have been due to increases in area under cultivation rather than increases in yields. Like in Africa, 30% of Cassava is for fresh consumption. Shelf life of fresh cassava roots rarely exceeds two days. The high perishability of harvested cassava and the presence of cyanogenic glucosides in cassava require immediate processing of the storage roots into more stable and safer products. Storage and packaging technologies to extend shelf life will contribute to increasing cassava root availability and reliability, stabilising prices and facilitating export. The extent to which the potential market for cassava may be expanded depends largely on the degree to which the quality of various processed products can be improved to make them attractive to various markets, local and
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