Kenya is relying on cassava imports from its neighbors to meet the high domestic demand. Peter Aluoch from Self Help Africa says local demand for cassava grew to 3 million tons last year, below Kenya’s production level of 946,076 tons. “In 2020, the country produced 898,110 tons of cassava from 61,754 ha translating to productivity of 14.54 tons/ha. This is lower compared to 16 – 24 tons/ha in China, Indonesia, and Thailand,” Aluoch says.
In the East African region, Kenya is the least producer of cassava, as Uganda produces 4 million tons while Tanzania produces 8 million tons per year, attributable to the lack of clean planting materials, unstructured markets, weak seed systems, and a weak regulatory framework.
“The traditional production systems are failing to address the household food security and income. In the Coastal region for example, cassava is considered an important food crop and production accounts for 30 percent of the total national production. In the Eastern region, production accounts for less than 10 percent of the country’s production,” he added.
Ghana could use cassava to transform economy
According to Deputy Director of Agriculture, Directorate of Crop Services of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, George Prah, cassava can generate much more revenues if more attention is paid to the crop. He claims there is huge demand for cassava and it's derivatives for the local and international markets.
Prah recently said Ghana was self-sufficient in cassava as it could produce 22 million tons of cassava a year, which was mostly the edible type and for consumption. He added that the government had selected cassava as a major crop under the revamped Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ) initiative.
Under the PFJ 2.0, he said, Cassava Zones would be created in the cassava producing areas with aggregators who would support farmers with improved seeds and farm inputs and also buy the produce from the farmers.
Source: allafrica.com