Thus said so far, the question comes;
WHAT IS CASSAVA?
Cassava( manihot Esculenta) is a tuberous plant which grows extensively on the tropical and subtropical regions of the world because of it high rainfall. It grows best on loamy and well drained soil and it is relatively adaptive to high temperature and humidity


It's foliage is finger like and is held by a stalk which extends from the shoot of the plant with four to ten leaves that spreads like an open palm.
It is generally believed that cassava was first introduced into Africa by the Portuguese explorers who brought it from the Amazon forest of South America to the Congo basin during the conquest of Africa of the 16th century As at the time of writing this post, Nigeria is the highest producer of cassava in then world. Many of the cassava farms are cultivated by poor rural farmers who live in remote areas scattered allover the country. Most of the cassava cultivated is primarily used as food for the farmers themselves and very insignificant quantity is sold to get the basic necessities of life by these farmers  but  with the assistance of government and the private sector, these farmers could be encouraged to be more productive as more use of the said cassava has been discovered.

CASSAVA STORY 3

THE CONQUEST

Hi there,

Do you remember where our story ended the last time? It was when the plant got into the human territory and how they got there. You can read it by visiting previous posts

Please lets continue……………………………….

So yam, beans, rice, plantain, pepper, pumpkin, mango, orange, cassava and other plant with their diverse characters started their popularity test.

Yam started growing a snake-like tendrils, fixed its tubers underground and took about a year to mature. Beans followed suit but its seed has to grow inside pods on its tendrils. Rice sprout survives on swamp but birds gives it a bad time, that is why it is imported from Thailand.

Pumpkin, pepper, plantain, orange, okra did as best they could by still adopting the ways they use today.

Cassava has to be propagated through cuttings and by seed and this premise has to be taken into consideration.

Supervisors were sent to check how every plant was doing. The ten finalists were graded as seen below after the initial screening.

When it was time to check the winner of the popularity contest, investigators and supervisors were sent to check how every plant was doing. The ten finalists were graded as seen below after the initial screening.

The following criteria were used to score each plant;

SCORE SHEET

	YAM	BEANS	ORANGE	CASSAVA	RICE	PUMPKIN	GUAVA	TOMATO
AVAILABILITY	5	5	3	9	7	4	2	3
RESPECTABILITY	7	4	3	5	6	4	2	3
ADAPTABILITY	5	4	3	9	1	2	2	1
FLEXIBILITY	2	3	1	9	1	1	1	1
AFFORDABILITY	1	6	2	9	5	3	3	3
MULTIPLICITY	3	4	2	9	2	4	2	3
COMPERATIVE COST ADVANTAGE	3	4	2	9	2	4	2	2
VERSATILITY	1	1	1	9	2	2	1	1
YIELD PER HECTRE	5	5	3	9	5	4	2	4
RESISTANCE TO PEST/DISEASE	7	6	7	8	4	6	4	3
TOTAL	39	42	27	85	35	34	21	24

After thoughtful consideration and deliberation, their above result was reached and the winner of the contest was announced.

Every plant did the best they could but none could matched or major to the most versatile of them all; the indisputable, indispensable winner; CA-SSA-VA! 

From these diverse characters, the BIG BOY  “CASSAVA”  won the contest.

As such, this blog is specifically dedicated to every body’s good  friend; “the victor, the winner of the popularity contest of the plant kingdom. Our lovable CASSAVA!

Every information you need on cassava and its numerous uses and prospect shall be given in subsequent post. If you have any information that fit for extolling the virtues of our cassava, please feel free to comment and we shall publish such and give credit to you.

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