Venturing into Cassava Farming for Food Security

Cassava is grown widely in sub-Saharan Africa and it is the cheapest source of energy known. It provides 300 calories a day to 200 million people in Africa. It can be eaten as fresh roots or processed into products such as flour, crisps, starch and the leaves eaten as green vegetables.

In Kenya, cassava is grown in the Coastal, Central and Western regions of Kenya. The Coastal region is characterized by lowland ecology, low altitude, high rainfall, warm and humid temperatures; Central is characterized by low to high altitude areas mainly semi-arid areas, cool and warm temperatures; and Western Kenya is characterized by mid altitude, medium to high rainfall areas, warm and humid temperatures.

90 percent of cassava produced in Kenya is consumed as food, hence the need to expand the value chain and increase production to meet the industrial requirements for cassava.  The tuber is the cheapest source of energy and has the potential for providing the country with the needed Food, animal Feed and Fuel.

Cassava is excellent for food security because of its high yielding ability, it is easy to cultivate and is relatively tolerant to low soil fertility and drought. It is flexible in farming and food systems. It can do well in marginal and stressed environments and still give satisfactory yields where most other crops like maize fail. It also has low labor requirements and can remain in the ground for over two years without spoilage. This makes it very valuable as a famine reserve crop.

Despite this potential, cassava’s product development is highly unexploited in Kenya. Its production is characterized by low use of inputs, use of rudimentary technology, large post-harvest losses, minimal processing, unreliable supply, inconsistency in quality of products, low producer prices, costly marketing structure and low utilization of cassava in the industrial sector

Key challenges facing the cassava subsector include Poor infrastructure leading to high transportation costs, quality deterioration of chips/flour during storage and transportation caused by lack of quality storage material, lack or shortage of enough cassava processing facilities, unreliable demand, Minimal production by local farmers thus discouraging investment in the higher levels of the value chain.

Cassava farmers also lack information regarding supply, demand, recommended cassava varieties and where they can be found. This leaves them in the dark as they are not able to establish the best variety of the tuber that can lead to high yields. Lack of capital and credit to facilitate production and milling is also a great challenge to those who are passionate in venturing into this sector of investment.

Expanding the cassava value chain is the best way of meeting the country’s food demand and is the surest way of increasing cassava production to sustain the evident demand for cassava. This is one area that has a number of advantages and investment opportunities that include export in the regional market, making of dried chips, use in the fuel and bio fuels industries and animal food manufactures. Cassava is also a food that is much sought currently due its nutritional values especially by people living in cities like Nairobi, Mombasa and Kisumu.

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