Cassava, as a food crop, is cultivated by many farmers for their nutrients and economic value as a well-sort produce. With the crop being drought-resistant and easy to farm, more and more farmers have been taught over the years to see the financial gain in growing cassava for much more than its consumption by families as meals.
Still, with millions of homes consuming the tubers over the years, novel ways to enjoy the crop have arisen. So cassava is boiled, pounded, roasted, fried, modified into different edible snacks, and so on. This way, the crop stays nutritionally and economically relevant in many ways.
To begin with, you should know that every part of the cassava harvested is valuable. This is to say that cassava is useful for a large number of products ranging from human food and snacks, to feed for animals, to bio-degradable substances, to sweeteners for some products, to starches that are useful for the sizing of fabrics and paper. All the mentioned by-products or derivatives are gotten from the crop in one form or the other. For example, some are gotten from its nutritional leaves, while it is the tuber itself for some, and for others, still, it is the root of the crop that provides something useful.
This article elaborates on these products that can be processed or gotten from cassava. The article, for one, can serve as an encouragement to any willing to start a cassava farm. It will show that there is a large market for cassava and its yields which goes beyond just daily consumption by families.
Having so noted, some of the products that are obtainable from cassava are discussed below:
- CASSAVA FLOUR:
Flour of premium quality can be derived from cassava with 24 hours of the crop’s root being obtained from the soil.
The flour comes out white, low in fat, not as sour as the conventional fermented flour, contributes no offensive taste and odour to mixed meals, and serves as a good mix that can be added to the wheat flour for making pastries.
The cassava flour is easily processed, needing only a few pieces of equipment, manpower and technical no-how. In no time, one can kick off the cassava flour making business as one of the advantages yielded from the farm.
- GARRI:
Garri is a major cassava derivative in Nigeria and even Africa, as it is a must-find in many homes. Due to the large market for it, it is a great opportunity for cassava farmers to supply fresh tubers to garri processers within 72hours (before spoilage begins) or to process them themselves for sale.
Processing equipment like vibrating sieves, hydraulic presses, fermentation racks, and so on can make the production process of garri easier and more hygienic.
- CASSAVA BREAD AND CASSAVA FUFU:
Cassava bread is a product derived from cassava as formulated by agricultural indigenes. Bread made from this “yuca”/”manioc”, as called by the Americas, is believed to prevent heart-related diseases, obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, and so on. It is a traditional cassava-derived staple having a plain test and room for additives and gravy.
Cassava fufu, on the other hand, is a highly rated traditional fufu staple in Nigeria.
For easier preparation in this day and age, the cassava is produced in powder form.
This fufu meal is a main traditional course of the Igbos and so has a large demand in the market. Farmers of cassava can not go wrong with a large farm to meet this need.
- FEED FOR ANIMALS:
Animals greatly contribute to the world’s life cycle. Moreso, they are valuable in the production of many necessities that humans use in daily living. Animal husbandry, the branch of agriculture that deals with the proper rearing of these animals, teaches that the animals have to be sufficiently fed with nutritious content to boost growth and yield.
Many agriculturists over time have inculcated the use of cassava-derived products (pellets, flour, etc) in animal feed, as they are cheaper and yield good results. It will interest an aspiring cassava farmer to know that cassava products made in Nigeria have become highly sought by foreign farmers. So won’t you rather start your cassava farm and tap into this large market?
- ALCOHOL/ETHANOL:
This is produced from the fermentation and distilling of cassava. This derived ethanol is highly useful in the industrial sector as a transport fuel or for mixing petrol. It is also useful for beverages that should contain alcohol.
More so, alcohol is valuable to industries that produce cosmetics and drugs.
- STARCH:
This is extractable from the roots of cassava and is highly useful to fabric and paper factories as glue for clay, glass and wool.
More so, the starch is valuable in the production of items used in manufacturing sweets, ice cream, jam, caramel (a colouring agent), and so on.
Makers of fruit juice are also beginning to use sucrose (from cassava) instead of dextrose in their production processes because sucrose has zero toxic sulfur dioxide and aids the preservation of the fresh fruit’s flavour, thereby lowering the propensity of it condensing to sugar.
In conclusion, it goes without saying that the cassava farmer has his/her market spread towards almost all works of life both at home and beyond according to the capacity available to him or her. Hence, having a cassava farm or business is very lucrative as one crop yields an abundant of options that can be marketed.
It can be quite shocking to realize that cassava can be found in so many manufactured products humans use today. Beyond that, still, the crop cannot be undervalued as a wholesome staple of many African homes today, prepared in different ways. Novel ways to enjoy the crop keep springing forth and may never seize to be innovated.
Why don’t you take advantage of the immense world that cassava offers and become more than a consumer today? You should remember that the clamour for the crop and its products have spread into most parts of the world, finding a vacuum to fill in bakeries, schools, pharmacies, factories, food agencies, milling industries, hospitals, and so on.
