Of all the total cassava produced
globally, Africa accounted for 50 per cent followed by Asia with 30 per cent
and Latin America 20 per cent.
Despite the fact that African
farmers recorded the lowest output per hectare, it still took the lead as every
countries in the Western, Central, Eastern as well as North-South regions of
the continent produced cassava on a land mass of 12.5 million hectares to beat
Asia using 3.5million hectares and Latin America with 3million hectares.
Africa land mass contributed to the
volume of Cassava produced as productivity is still very low with 10tones per
hectare compared to Asia and Latin America with 19 tonnes per hectare and 12 tonnes
per hectare respectively.
A Cassava fact sheet by the Global
Cassava Partnership of the 21st Century (GCP21) made available to NaijaAgroNet revealed that more than 250 million Sub-Saharan Africans rely on cassava as
their major source of calories while over 700 million people globally rely on
cassava as a staple crop.
Also, NaijaAgroNet gathered that
Asia recorded the highest growth in cassava production from about 15 tonnes per
hectare in 2002 to about 18 tonnes per hectare in 2008, while Africa recorded
11 tonnes per hectare in 2008, showing a growth of 3 tonnes per hectare over 8
tonnes per hectare recorded in 2004.
Thailand on the other hand recorded
a sharp drop from 25 tonnes per hectare in 2004 to about 22 tonnes per hectare
in 2008.
Yinka Awosanya
... Linking agrobiz, people & technology
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