Highlights

Cassava is one of the most popular and widely consumed food crops in Africa. Because it is such an important food in the region and an extremely versatile crop, it is commonly referred to as cornerstone of food security in Africa. The competing needs for cassava cuts across both human and animal consumption. It is fast becoming a popular raw material in industrial production and is now a preferred material for making biofuels. As Africa's population continue to grow rapidly, the demand for food staples like cassava has increased. This high demand for various forms of processed cassava(gari,fufu and tapioca) is pushing prices to the ceiling. Several small scale cassava farmers are making a fortune and changing their lives through this business. Cassava is highly adaptable to our tropical climate and soils, and remains very popular for producing excellent harvests even when other crops fail. Processed forms of cassava, especially Gari, fufu and tapioca, are very common throughout West Africa. Gari is hugely popular in the region as it has traditionally remained cheaper than other carbohydrate sources, especially rice and maize(with reference to my country Nigeria). This has aptly earned it the nickname "the common man’s food". The annual consumption of gari in West Africa is valued at several million dollars (annually), a figure which is more than or close to what the best footballers in the world earn and is expected to grow with the population explosion in the region, a statistics which I believe propelled a popular Nigerian/international musician Dapo Oyebanjo(D-banj) towards venturing into the cassava production business; a feat am advicing African youths to emulate. For as long as a large proportion of the population in the region remains predominantly poor, gari will continue to be the preferred food product for many years to come. Due to the very short shelf life (2-3 days) of harvested cassava tubers, inadequate road and power infrastructure, most of the cassaava produced in Africa is consumed locally, where it is still unable to address the growing consumption. As a result, a lot of the cassava harvested every year in Africa become spoilt and never make it to the market. This wastage is estimated to be worth millions of dollars every year. The estimated value of the global cassava trade is in excess of US$2 billion annually. However, Thailand, Brazil and Indonesia dominate the international trade in cassava. Despite its favourable climate, fertile soils and cheap manpower, Africa is yet to fully exploit the huge returns from the global cassava trade. However, the price of cassava and its derivatives have increased sharply in the past few years. The population explosion in Africa has made it difficult to produce enough cassava to feed many ‘common’ Africans. In addition, the raging economic growth of China has made it the largest buyer of African cassava, which it uses to feed livestock (cattle, pigs etc.). China is currently responsible for more than 60 percent of global cassava consumption, and is still buying more from Africa (especially Nigeria)! Combine the growing profile and demand for cassava as a source of biofuels and it becomes very evident that the future demand and prices for cassava is headed for the skies. With these statistics, I call on every African youths (mostly unemployed) to embrace agriculture, and venture into this cassava production in Africa. If an MTV award winning artist can do it, why can we? Even for small scale entrepreneurs who are unable to participate in the international cassava export market, feeding the local African population with this most basic food stuff remains an interesting and highly lucrative prospect. What is more interesting is that as humans, animals, industries and biofuels compete for the valuable cassava crop, the prevailing local market prices will continue to explode!