Cassava
By Chidinma Ewunonu-Aluko
Ibadan, June 22, 2018 (NAN) A plant expert, Dr Paul Ilona, has advised farmers to plant cassava stems in farmlands with sandy loam soil texture and avoid waterlogged areas so as to obtain high yields.
Ilona, the Country Manager of HarvestPlus, gave the advice on Friday in an interview with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Ibadan.
He also advised cassava farmers to avoid planting those cassava varieties which processors did not like.
“Always remove trees and stumps carefully without damaging the top soil and avoid bush burning; plough and ridge the soil, if necessary, and always seek advice from experts.
“Handle cassava stems with care; buy the stems from recommended sources and cut them carefully into stakes (20 to 22cm); plant at an angle vertically or horizontally, depending on your location, and avoid planting when the soil moisture is too low or high,” he said.
Ilona also urged the farmers to remove weeds from farms, particularly while planting vitamin A cassava, so as to reduce undue competition of the plants for nutrients, adding that weeding could be done mechanically or with herbicides.
“Also, learn to apply fertiliser between four and eight weeks after planting for healthy plant growth; always seek for advice on fertiliser types and don’t apply fertiliser whenever the soil is dry.
“Harvest carefully to ensure that all the tuberous roots are removed from the soil.
“Cassava harvesting can be done manually or mechanically; you can also harvest stems for sale to increase your profit margin.
“The number of stem bundles required to plant 1 hectare of land is 60, the number of plants (1m x 0.8m apart) per hectare is 12,500 and the number of bags of fertiliser required for one hectare is eight to 10,” he said.
The country manager said that HarvestPlus and its partners had recently released 25 products from vitamin A cassava and maize, adding that 10 of the products had been commercialised in the country.
“We have vitamin A garri, often eaten as snack with groundnut or as a paste with vegetable.
“We also have vitamin A fufu; besides, Combobite fried cassava snacks are made from a combination of vitamin A cassava and cowpea flour.
“Cassarita fried snacks, made from fermented vitamin A cassava chips, are similar to French fries; there is also custard made from fermented vitamin A starch, which is similar to maize custard.
“We have also Tuwo made from vitamin A maize flour, which is similar to Nsima in East and South Africa, and pap made from fermented vitamin A maize, which is often taken with bean cake,” he said.
According to him, HarvestPlus and its partners have also developed flakes, cereal from vitamin A maize, and green maize often consumed boiled or roasted.
Ilona underscored the need for the people’s food to contain all the micronutrients required for human health, saying that people could never progress economically if they were not healthy.
The nutritionist reiterated the determination of HarvestPlus to achieve its goals of improving nutrition and public health via bio-fortification of crops.
NAN reports that HarvestPlus, which develops and promotes bio-fortified foods, is in the vanguard of global efforts to produce naturally bio-fortified staple crops. (NAN)
CC/VOE/OOK
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Edited by Vivian Emoni and Dayo Komolafe