Can cassava solve Africa's food crisis?
Tuesday, November 1 2005
The solution to Africa's persistently poor food security situation could well be the humble cassava. It is a staple food in many countries and it thrives where other food crops wither. Taye Babaleye explains why cassava can be Africa's food saviour.
Over the past five decades, Africa's food security situation has hardly shown any substantial improvement. Every year seems to bring a new food crisis in some country or region. After the famine in Niger and reports of acute food shortage in Darfur, Chad and now Malawi, it is critical that a collective approach is taken to address this issue.
It is against this background that cassava can be viewed as Africa's food security crop. As a hardy crop, cassava meets the needs of African farmers who work under harsh environmental conditions.
It is drought tolerant and serves as a food with many advantages over crops like maize, rice and wheat which often fail because of Africa's erratic rainfall patterns, lack of fertiliser and poor soils.
