Sep 6, 2012

Cassava News 103

FOOD CROPS Cassava News 103 (Tin Mới Cây Sắn)
KM397 Cassava Variety, Photo by NgocphuongNam

Cassava - Google News

Linked In Cassava All Discussions

Henk Jaap Meijer Cassava crop in Queensland aimed at exports

Cassava was trialed and failed in the Australian state of Queensland in the 1980s, but now, there are plans to establish commercial production for Australia's first gluten-free flour mill.

Cassava crop in Queensland aimed at exports | Pacific Beat radioaustralia.net.au

Cassava is a staple crop in Pacific countries and a new project in Australia involving the crop could open the way for new export markets and products from the humble root.

Henk Jaap Meijer Low bar for pledging success

The government can call its rice pledging scheme a success if it contains losses to 68 billion baht, says one bank executive. Boonthai Kaewkhuntee, an executive vice-president of the Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural...

Low bar for pledging success | Bangkok Post: business bangkokpost.com

The government can call its rice pledging scheme a success if it contains losses to 68 billion baht, says one bank executive.

Henk Jaap Meijer Appliance of Science = Food For Thought

Every day at Flying Fish I try to make sure I get a chance to speak with the diners to ensure their experience was a good one. I think it's important as the owner of a business to interact with your customers to get direct...

Wednesday, September 5, 2012 freeport.nassauguardian.net

Appliance of Science Every day at Flying Fish I try to make sure I get a chance to speak with the diners to ensure their experience was a good one. I think it's important as the owner of a business to interact with your...

Henk Jaap Meijer Costa Rica: Cassava Growers to analyse the sector's challenges

As part of their efforts to promote the development of cassava, CLAYUCA-Costa Rica, the Ministry of Agriculture and Technology Institute of Costa Rica, will hold from the 4th to 5th of October, the IV International Congress...

Exchange rates more » freshplaza.com

FreshPlaza is the number one portal for the fresh produce industry, offering the latest news, job advertisements, pricewatch, and photo...

Henk Jaap Meijer Asian bioethanol supply tightens on demand surge, maintenance shutdowns in Q4

Asian bio-ethanol supply has tightened following a surge in demand for the fourth quarter when many plants in Thailand are scheduled to shut down for maintenance, sources said Tuesday. At the end of last week, 12,000 cubic...

Asian bioethanol supply tightens on demand surge, maintenance... platts.com

Asian bioethanol supply tightens on demand surge, maintenance shutdowns in Q4 - read this Platts news article and other stories in petrochemicals by clicking here. Also discover Platts energy information products related...

Henk Jaap Meijer

home FEATURES Home > Politicsweb > FEATURES FEATURES -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Implications of the drought in the United States Eddie Cross 28 August 2012 ...

Implications of the drought in the United States politicsweb.co.za

Eddie Cross says Zimbabwe will no longer be able to rely on cheap maize imports from its neighbours The Impact of the Drought in the United States The US generates about a quarter of global GDP and about the same volume of...

Henk Jaap Meijer Convergent Adaptations: Bitter Manioc Cultivation Systems in Fertile Anthropogenic Dark Earths and Floodplain Soils in Central Amazonia

Shifting cultivation in the humid tropics is incredibly diverse, yet research tends to focus on one type: long-fallow shifting cultivation. While it is a typical adaptation to the highly-weathered nutrient-poor soils of the...

Convergent Adaptations: Bitter Manioc Cultivation Systems in Fertile... plosone.org

PLoS ONE: an inclusive, peer-reviewed, open-access resource from the PUBLIC LIBRARY OF SCIENCE. Reports of well-performed scientific studies from all disciplines freely available to the whole world.

Henk Jaap Meijer

Abuja, Aug. 26, 2012 (NAN) The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) said on Sunday in Abuja that cassava would become a miracle crop in Nigeria, if its potential was maximised.

IFAD says cassava will become miracle crop nanngronline.com

Abuja, Aug. 26, 2012 (NAN) The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) said on Sunday in Abuja that cassava would become a miracle crop in Nigeria, if its potential was maximised. IFAD President, Nigeria’s...

Henk Jaap Meijer

The Federal Government has expressed dismay over the importation of finished cassava products into the country despite its potential of being the world's largest producer of the commodity. Dr. Akinwunmi Adesina, the...

FG expresses dismay over cassava importation dailytimes.com.ng

Henk Jaap Meijer

The world's top farm producers in the Group of 20 countries must agree coordinated action to ease worries about food prices, the head of the United Nations food agency said on Monday, as he and other experts bemoaned a huge...

U.N. body urges G20 action on food prices, waste planetark.org

Henk Jaap Meijer Price Forecast for 17 Food Ingredients Edition(1) Aarkstore.com

Chinese economy has slowed down currently, but prices of most food additives are still increasing. There are many factors influencing the prices, such as supply, demand, raw materials, import, export, policies, etc. Then how...

Market Research Reports - Company Profile - Industry Analysis -... aarkstore.com

2012 Market research reports - Aarkstore.com has the best resource offerings and the expertise to make sure you get the right product every time Strategy and SWOT Report, Industry Report, Business Research, Company Profile.

Henk Jaap Meijer

Increasing investments in agricultural research for development (R4D) could bring the much-awaited agricultural transformation to Africa and help address the rising wave of youth unemployment and its attendant poverty,...

IFAD calls for more investment in agricultural research in2eastafrica.net

Presenting a paper at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Ibadan, Nigeria, Dr Kanayo Nwanze, said Africa and indeed Nigeria, should not shy away from committing more resources to agricultural...

Henk Jaap Meijer

The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) said on Sunday in Abuja that cassava would become a miracle crop in Nigeria, if its potential was maximised. IFAD President, Nigeria’s Dr Kanayo Nwanze, said the...

Cassava can be a miracle crop, says expert pmnewsnigeria.com

Published on August 26, 2012 by pmnews · 1 Comment The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) said on Sunday in Abuja that cassava would become a miracle crop in Nigeria, if its potential was maximised....

Henk Jaap Meijer

The Federal Government on Saturday expressed serious concerns about the importation of finished cassava products into the country despite its potential of being the largest producer of the commodity in the world.

Govt laments importation of cassava products punchng.com

Henk Jaap Meijer

The global food crisis of 2007-2008 is threatening to repeat in the coming months, as the worst drought in 50 years devastates the US corn crop, with 51% of the crop rated "Poor/very poor" by the US Department of...

Food Prices and International Equity Markets financialsense.com

Henk Jaap Meijer

Nigerians have developed an instinctive tendency to flay just any policy of government. Truth, however, is that no elected government would delight in formulating policies that would draw the economy and the citizens...

FG’s cassava policy thenationonlineng.net

Henk Jaap Meijer Nigeria: FG RELEASES N460M FOR CASSAVA VALUE CHAIN PROGRAMME

The Federal Government has committed the sum of N460 million for the implementation of the national cassava value chain programme , aimed at maximizing cassava industrial potentials. Meanwhile, the Lagos state government...

FG RELEASES N460M FOR CASSAVA VALUE CHAIN PROGRAMME zimbio.com

FG releases N460M for cassava value chain programme On August 17, 2012 · In Business By Olasunkanmi Akoni The Federal Government has committed the sum of N460 million for the implementation of the n...

Henk Jaap Meijer

UPS Provides 'Green' Option for Customers Ben Austin Atlanta - 08.17.12 Choose Language English Chinese (Simplified) Chinese (Traditional) French German Hindi Japanese Korean Portuguese Spanish Turkish UPS carbon...

UPS Provides 'Green' Option for Customers globalatlanta.com

UPS Provides 'Green' Option for Customers United Parcel Service Inc. is responding to the environmental sensitivites of some of its clients by offering them a chance to offset the CO2 emissions that are created when their...

Henk Jaap Meijer Farmers's day of joy in Epe, as government distributes cassava stems

It was a moment of joy for registered cassava farmers in Lagos, Nigeria’s economic and commercial nerve centre, when a team from the Federal Government, backed by Lagos State, arrived the city last week to distribute...

Farmers’ day of joy in Epe, as government distributes cassava stems businessdayonline.com

BusinessDay, Nigerian newspaper,BusinessDay newspaper Nigeria, Nigeria breaking news, Nigeria news,breaking news, Nigerian news, Nigeria business news, Nigerian business news, Yar'Adua, Financial Nigeria news, Financial...

Henk Jaap Meijer Ugly but amazing, the cassava excites investors (listen to the radio interview)

Ugly but amazing, the cassava excites investors abc.net.au

It's quite possibly the world's ugliest vegetable. But fans of the cassava say what it lacks in aesthetics, it more than makes up in its practical value. The root vegetable is a staple crop in half of the developing...

Source : http://www.linkedin.com/groups?newItemsAbbr=&gid=4022803&goback=.mid_I190945195*4145_*1.gmp_4022803

Cassava News Video

Crispy Cassava Chips - Video
► 3:35► 3:35	www.metacafe.com/.../crispy_cassa... 4 phút Way better than normal potato chips, big chunky cassava chips is one of the ... Watch Video about Brazil ...

Peeling Cassava Video - YouTube
► 0:30► 0:30	www.youtube.com/watch?v... 14 Tháng Sáu 2010 - 30 giây - Tải lên bởi Hispanicfoodways You need Adobe Flash Player to watch this video. ... กบนอกกะลา ตอน "สาคูอยู่ไหน" by SWIBrand41,406 views · cassava peeling machine 1:01 ...

Video khác cho Cassava News Video »

Cassava Plus Videos - IFDC in the Media Center | Events, News and ...
www.ifdc.org/.../Video.../Cassava_Plus_Video... - Dịch trang này
Media Center > Video Gallery > Cassava Plus Videos ... The film showcases the Cassava Plus project in Nigeria, which helps smallholder farmers shift from ...
www.Cassavanews.blogspot.com . Cassavanews.blogspot ...
www.webstatsdomain.com/.../cassavanews.blo... - Dịch trang này
cassavanews.blogspot.com Information at Webstatsdomain. ... Msnbccom is a leader in breaking news, video and original journalis... Tags: News ...
VIDEO: Police shooting sparks anger in Cassava Piece - News ...
www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/Police-shooti... - Dịch trang này
17 Mar 2012 – A mother of two was yesterday shot dead during a police operation in the Kingston community of Cassava Piece, triggering anger among ...
Worthy Cassava transformed into lucrative cash crop - Yahoo! News
news.yahoo.com/worthy-cassava-transformed... - Dịch trang này
7 Jun 2012 – Cassava - with its starchy root used to make tapioca - thrives in Africa's ... Explore news, videos, and much more based on what your friends are ...
Tapioca News – No.4 dated August 22nd, 2012
www.asiacreative.vn/en/ban-tin-san-lat-ngay-22082012/
22 Tháng Tám 2012 – Tay Ninh (Fr Cassava) ... Tapioca (4), News Focus (5), Market News (62), Hot News (25), Video Clips (9), Vietnam Tapioca Exporters (14) ...
FOOD CROPS: Food Crops News
foodcrops.blogspot.com/2012/09/food-crops-news.html Cassava News : Tin mới Cây Sắn, Photo by Hoàng Long .... 1:25 EL CULTIVO DEL CHAMPIÑÓN SE MODERNIZAbởi RTVCMVideo nổi bật ...

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Sep 5, 2012

Cassava News 102

FOOD CROPS Cassava News 102 (Tin Mới Cây Sắn)
KM419 Cassava Variety, Photo by NgocphuongNam

Why cassava?

Cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz) is the third most important source of calories in the tropics, after rice and maize. Millions of people depend on cassava in Africa, Asia and Latin America. It is grown by poor farmers, many of them women, often on marginal land. For those people and their families, cassava is vital for both food security and income generation.

But cassava is often seen as a poor cousin in the world's family of staple crops. While admirably tolerant to drought and productive on poor soils, this hardy tropical root seems unsuited to modern farming. First, it is usually propagated vegetatively from stem cuttings that do not store well and are costly to cut and handle. Vegetative reproduction also means the rate of multiplication of new, improved varieties is slow, retarding their adoption. Harvesting cassava is labour-intensive, and its roots are bulky and highly perishable.
Little wonder, therefore, that cassava is usually grown by poor farmers in marginal areas - and even there, it faces increasing competition as cereals are further improved to adapt them to local conditions. In fact, far less research and development have been devoted to cassava than to rice, maize and wheat. This lack of scientific interest has contributed to highly uneven cultivation and processing methods, and cassava products that often are of poor quality.
The Global Cassava Development Strategy, launched in Rome in 2000, seeks to change all that. At a forum at FAO headquarters, some 80 agricultural experts from 22 countries were asked whether cassava had the potential not only to meet the food security needs of the estimated 500 million farmers who grow it, but to provide a key to rural industrial development and higher incomes for producers, processors and traders.
The forum's conclusion: cassava could become the raw material base for an array of processed products that will effectively increase demand for cassava and contribute to agricultural transformation and economic growth in developing countries.

Global Cassava Development Strategy

Background

FAO's rationale for developing a Global Cassava Development Strategy is the belief that the crop will contribute to the economic development of cassava producers and processers and the well-being of numerous disadvantaged communities and individuals around the world.

The broad agro-ecological adaptability of cassava, and its ability to produce reasonable yields where most crops cannot, make it the basis for food security at household level and an important source of dietary energy. The crop is an essential part of the diet of more than half a billion people and provides a livelihood for millions of farmers, processors and traders worldwide.
Despite its importance as a staple crop and industrial raw material, and its contribution to fighting hunger and poverty in developing countries, cassava has often been neglected in agricultural development policies and has received considerably less emphasis in genetic improvement and biotechnology than most other major food crops.
The Global Strategy is the result of the visionary efforts, dating from 1996, of a number of individuals and institutions that have spurred renewed interest in cassava and its links to the development process. The revival of interest in cassava can be traced back to May 1996, when a meeting called by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) decided to form a Task Force to spearhead the development of a strategy for cassava.
The goal of the Task Force was to realize the shared vision for cassava and move it closer to action and reality. In 1998, international experts prepared a Global Cassava Development Strategy (GCDS) document. The GCDS was officially endorsed by stakeholders at a Validation Forum held at the headquarters of Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in Rome in April 2000. An implementation plan was also adopted.
A coordination group composed of representatives of the organizations playing an active role in the development and endorsement of the Strategy will be responsible for the facilitation of the coordination of the Strategy.

Implementation

The Implementation Plan draws on the principles outlined in the strategy document and takes into consideration the priorities established by representatives of the public and private sectors during the various consultation meetings held in Africa, Asia and Latin America and the Caribbean. The Plan also reflects the discussions and conclusions reached by the participants in the GCDS Validation Forum.

It was agreed at the Forum that FAO, in its position as an international organization, supported by a large number of Member Governments, has a key facilitation role to play in the implementation of the Strategy. In the first place, FAO will publish the report of the Validation Forum using funds made available by IFAD. FAO will also be responsible for the maintenance, updating and enhancement of the GCDS Web site, which is already accessible through FAO's Web page. It was acknowledged, however, that commitments were also required from other organizations to assist in promoting and coordinating the implementation of the Strategy.

Coordination

To facilitate the implementation of the Strategy at global, regional and national levels, coordination was essential to avoid duplication, promote cooperative activities and ensure that benefits of the strategy could be shared widely. A coordination group was therefore created by representatives of organizations that played an active role in the development of the Strategy.

The Coordination Group on the Global Cassava Development Strategy is composed mainly of representatives of organizations that played an active role in the development of the Strategy. There are three categories for membership of the Group:

Representatives of the organizations that played an active role in the development and endorsement of the Strategy (IFAD, FAO, CIAT, CIRAD, IITA, NRI).
Representatives of Agricultural Research Organizations (AROs) and advanced laboratories, National Agricultural Research System (NARS), development organizations and private sector.
Representatives of financing and donor agencies.

The Group has the power to broaden its constituency and co-opt other members whenever necessary. The secretariat for the Group is located at the Crop and Grassland Service (AGPC) of FAO, Rome, Italy. The objective of the Group is to promote the Strategy and promote cassava by stimulating its production, processing, utilization and marketing. Coordination basically involves the following:

Making available all documentation related to the GCDS.
A careful monitoring of cassava research and development efforts.
Coordination of efforts of regional networks to optimize cross-fertilization and economies of scale.
Provision of advice for the implementation of the GDCS at national and regional levels.
Responding to outside demand of information on cassava.

Research and development

GCDS provides information on strategic research and development activities undertaken by its partners in areas related to genetic improvement and biotechnology, improved production systems, post-harvest and processing, environmental considerations, institutional development and policy research. GCDS also focuses on supporting the development of action plans on global cassava improvement, global cassava post harvest and global cassava marketing. In addition, GCDS provides information on some key national, regional and global projects on cassava research and development.

Genetic improvement and biotechnology

GCDS suggests that genetic improvement of cassava be related to the use of cassava. Thus the "best" cassava is no longer the highest yielding cassava, or the cassava with the greatest resistance, unless it is the "best" cassava to use for the production of a specific product.

Conventional breeding efforts have attempted to address many of the constraints facing cassava productivity, but with limited success. Progress has been slow, because of the crop's complex genetic makeup, which makes it difficult to breed efficiently. Biotechnology provides new tools for overcoming some of the problems that hindered cassava improvement. New technologies have the potential to make cassava much more productive, nutritious and profitable to grow.

Cassava genetic resources

With the increasing importance worldwide of cassava for human consumption, animal feed and industrial applications, there will be an increasing need for a wide range of genetic resources (e.g. cassava germplasm, wild Manihot and related species) to develop cultivars having specific characteristics and for adaptation to different ecologies. To this end cassava biodiversity deserves international support and cooperation in its collection, conservation, study and use.

Conserving, maintaining and safe duplication of cassava genetic resources using a combination of available conservation methods will facilitate the:

safeguarding of important cassava-related germplasm from loss due to environment degradation;
study of relatedness of the species of the Manihot genus;
availability of a germplasm pool for screening for potential important agronomic traits (i.e. disease resistance, post-harvest characteristics, nutritional qualities, apomixis);
availability of a source of genes for transfer of beneficial traits to farmer-preferred cassava cultivars.

There are some gaps in the existing ex situ collection, with respect to the representation of genetic diversity from many geographical areas. Few collections of wild relatives of cassava have been assembled and conserved in ex situ genebanks.

Due to the destruction of natural habits where wild relatives of cassava are growing and also due to the trend in the abandonment of old traditional cassava cultivars by farmers adopting improved varieties, there is a need to collect the cassava biodiversity not represented in the existing collections for ex situ conservation. Concurrently, germplasm characterization using agrobotanical descriptors and molecular markers should be intensified to assist in the selection of core collections and the elimination of duplicates, thus increasing the efficiency of germplasm management and its use.
Appropriate strategies for in situ or on-farm conservation of cassava genetic resources should be developed and encouraged to complement ex situ conservation. Policies governing the areas for the conservation of cassava biodiversity and its use and access should be well articulated to ensure that the genetic resources are accessible to the users. GCDS will support the effort to reduce varietal and genetic resources erosion, develop better tools and harmonize protocols and methodologies for characterization of cassava genetic diversity.

Publications

Most publications are available electronically in full-text in either html or pdf format.

The strategy

The Global Cassava Development Strategy and Implementation Plan (FAO/IFAD, 2001)

HTML
PDF (514K)

Economics

The world cassava economy - facts, trends and outlook (FAO, 2000)

HTML
PDF (1.1MB)

Regional/country studies

Africa

A review of cassava in Africa with country case studies on Nigeria, Ghana, the United Republic of Tanzania, Uganda and Benin (FAO/IFAD, 2005)

HTML
PDF (2.4MB)

Asia

A review of cassava in Asia with country case studies on Thailand and Viet Nam (FAO/IFAD, 2001)

HTML
PDF (3.8MB)

Latin America/Caribbean

A review of cassava in Latin America and the Caribbean with country case studies on Brazil and Colombia (FAO/IFAD, 2004)

HTML
PDF (1.1MB)

Environment

Strategic environmental assessment - the impact of cassava production and processing on the environment and biodiversity (FAO, 2001)

HTML
PDF (1.9MB)

Marketing

Global cassava market study (FAO, 2004)

HTML

Contact

The secretariat of the Global Cassava Development Strategy Coordination Group is located in the Crop and Grassland Service (AGPC) of FAO, Rome, Italy. Contact:

NeBambi Lutaladio
Agricultural Officer (Root and Tubers)
Crop and Grassland Service
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Viale delle Terme di Caracalla
00153 Rome, Italy

tel.: (39) 0657054233
email: nebambi.lutaladio@fao.org

Source : http://www.fao.org/ag/agp/agpc/gcds/en/contact.html

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Jun 10, 2012

Cassava News 101

Dec 10, 2011

Cassava News 100

CASSAVANEWS to follow 234Next.com By the middle of 2014, more than 150,000 households in Nigeria are expected to be eating vitamin A fortified yellow cassava, an international agricultural organisation, HarvestPlus, said

HarvestPlus is an international partner of the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) leading a global effort to breed and disseminate micro-nutrient-rich staple food crops to reduce hunger in malnourished populations.
In a release in Ibadan on Thursday, IITA quoted HarvestPlus as saying that yellow cassava varieties could provide more vitamin A in the diets of more than 70 million Nigerians, who ate cassava everyday.
The release, signed by Godwin Atser, the spokesman for IITA, stated that yellow cassava varieties were already being multiplied through stem cuttings.
It said that by 2013 when sufficient certified stems would be available for HarvestPlus and its partners to distribute to about 25,000 farming households initially.
The release said farmers would be able to grow the new vitamin A varieties and feed their families on them and in addition, multiply and share cuttings with others in the community, thus amplifying the nutritional benefits.
Vitamin A deficiency (VAD) is widely prevalent in sub-Saharan Africa, afflicting almost 20 per cent of pregnant women and about 30 per cent of children under the age of five in Nigeria, the release stated.
It added that VAD could lower immunity and impair vision, leading to blindness and even death.
The release stated that children and women would be the main beneficiaries of these new yellow varieties, which could provide up to 25 per cent of daily vitamin A needs.
It said that varieties with enough vitamin A to provide up to half of daily needs were already in the breeding pipeline and should be ready for release in a few years.
The release said new yellow varieties bred using traditional (non-transgenic) methods by IITA and National Root Crops Research Institute were liked by farmers during field trials.
"Demand for these varieties has already started but it will take some time before we have enough quantities to give out," said Paul Ilona, the HarvestPlus Manager for Nigeria .
Although the cassava initiative is being funded by HarvestPlus, other partners include the International Centre for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa) and Nigerian government agencies, the release explained.
Cassava, an extremely adaptable crop, is drought tolerant, requires limited land preparation and grows well in poor soils
As part of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research Programme on Agriculture for Improved Nutrition and Health, the global initiative is coordinated by CIAT and the International Food Policy Research Institute.

Cassava News 99

Nigeria releases Vitamin A cassava to improve public health

CASSAVANEWS to folow Joy Online from Kofi Adu Domfeh/Luv Fm/Ghana, Last Updated: December 9, 2011. The Nigerian Government has announced the release of three new vitamin A-rich ‘yellow’ cassava varieties that could provide more vitamin A in the diets of more than 70 million Nigerians who eat cassava every day.

The yellow color (cassava is generally white) is due to the higher vitamin A content.

Vitamin A deficiency (VAD) is widely prevalent in sub-Saharan Africa. It afflicts almost 20% of pregnant women and about 30% of children under-five in Nigeria. VAD can lower immunity and impair vision, which can lead to blindness and even death.

Children and women will be the main beneficiaries of these new yellow varieties, which could provide up to 25% of their daily vitamin A needs. Varieties with enough vitamin A to provide up to half of daily needs are already in the breeding pipeline and should be ready for release in a few years.

These new yellow varieties were bred using traditional (non-transgenic) methods by the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) and the Nigerian National Root Crops Research Institute (NRCRI) and were liked by farmers during field trials.

Cassava is an extremely adaptable crop; it is drought tolerant, requires limited land preparation, and grows well in poor soils. The new yellow varieties are also high yielding and resistant to major diseases and pests.

“Demand for these varieties has already started, but it will take some time before we have enough quantities to give out,” said Paul Ilona, the HarvestPlus Manager for Nigeria.

The yellow cassava is already being multiplied through stem cuttings. In 2013, when sufficient certified stems are available, HarvestPlus and its partners will then distribute these to about 25,000 farming households initially.

Farmers will be able to grow these new vitamin A varieties and feed them to their families. They can also multiply and share cuttings with others in their community, amplifying the nutritional benefits. After the Mid-2014 harvest, more than 150,000 household members are expected to be eating vitamin A cassava.

This work is funded by HarvestPlus. Other partners include the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa), and Nigerian Government agencies.

HarvestPlus leads a global effort to breed and disseminate micronutrient-rich staple food crops to reduce hidden hunger in malnourished populations. It is part of the CGIAR Research Program on Agriculture for Improved Nutrition and Health. It is coordinated by CIAT and the International Food Policy Research Institute.

May 8, 2011

Cassava News 98

Invoke Sun, Wind gods for satisfying energy needs

CASSAVA NEWS to follow The Economic Times .Recently, ET organised a workshop, Energy India 2011: Energy security, climate change and economic development , where it was stressed, inter-alia , that our government is facing tough challenges in meeting energy requirements in an environmentally-sustainable manner. This is true - there is a dire need for exploring sources of energy that are not fossil fuel-based since the latter cause climate change. Because of this concern, we are resorting to producing clean energy such as biofuel, nuclear, wind, solar and hydro power. It may be mentioned, considering world averages, that today , about 70% energy comes from fossil fuel, about 20% from hydro power, and of the remaining 10%, most either comes from nuclear plants and biofuel and an insignificant 0.5% from the sun or wind.

However, these percentages vary from country to country. For example , countries such as Japan, US, Canada, France and Germany produce a large percentage of nuclear power in their energy mix, while India produces a mere 2.5% nuclear energy of its total power production. In the context of choosing a clean energy policy, let us first examine the pros and cone of two forms of clean energies , viz nuclear and biofuel, which are accepted as clean energies. First, consider nuclear energy.

The recent nuclear disaster in Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in Japan has again brought to the fore the harmful aspects of producing nuclear energy on living beings, business and industry , which belies all the talk of sustainable development. Ironically, it has happened in a technically-advanced country while making peaceful use of atomic energy that may prove worse than the havoc of destructive use of atomic energy in Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945. We had much higher nuclear catastrophe in Chernobyl (Ukraine) in 1986 but never learnt the lesson on safety standards of nuclear plants.

Such big tragedies send shock waves in the corridors of power the world over. There is a catalogue of day-to-day leaks of radioactive steam from nuclear plants in all parts of the world that go unreported but are causing slow murder of millions of workers employed there as well as other citizens including people living in neighbouring countries. In India too, we had a small mishap at Narora nuclear plant in 1993, which might have been forgotten by many. Second, let us talk about production of biofuel as many developed countries have passed laws mandating greater use of non-fossil fuel. As a result, crops such as cassava, corn, palm oil and sugar are being diverted in great proportion for biofuel production. China and the US are cases in point.

While China imports 98% of cassava production from Thailand to produce biofuel, the US uses 16% of the world's corn supply - enough to feed 350 million people - to produce ethanol only to be burned in its SUVs. Al Gore , who once supported the policy of ethanol production, now calls it a mistake because the rush for biofuel is driving the food prices . The Food and Agriculture Organization ( FAO )) has asserted that food prices have gone up by 15% during October 2010-January 2011 alone, bringing additional 45 million people below poverty line. The soaring food prices are the cause of political turmoil in Algeria, Egypt and Bangladesh. My intention is not to make a case against production of nukes and biofuel .

However, in view of the above facts, it seems that we should focus more on producing clean energy from wind and sun, which are God's gift to us, and they are renewable sources of energy too. It is true that the cost of production of these energies is high because we do not have efficient technology to produce them on a large scale. To achieve this, we require large investment in R&D of these energies to which, unfortunately, we have not paid sufficient attention. According to scientists and researchers, we would probably need to invest about $100 billion annually for a few decades.

This is about 0.2% of the world's total GDP and is well within the capability of G20 nations that account for about 90% of world's GDP. If rich nations are really serious in saving the planet, some sacrifice needs to be made by them. This is the only way to reduce our dependence on fossil-based energy. The last four Conference of Parties - Bali (2007), Poznan (2008), Copenhagen (2009) and the latest at Cancun (2010) - have not achieved anything worthwhile . Whatever voluntary or legallybinding emission cuts are agreed to, these would be insufficient to keep the rise in global temperature below the threshold limit of 2° C set by the G20.

To sum up, clean and renewable solar and wind energy should constitute a major portion of total energy mix in future. Since, it is not going to happen soon, we should (a) take all safety measures in production of nuclear power by strengthening our laws, (b) take steps that ensure biofuel production does not create food shortage, and (c) enhance hydel power generation by resolving all social, cultural, territorial , livelihood and displacement issues that arise during implementation of projects. All this is relevant in India's context so that our economic growth is not disrupted. The ET seminar did address all these issues and I hope it would infuse innovative thinking for devising suitable clean energy policy by our government.

P P SANGAL
(The author is former director of the CSO and UN consultant on Environment and Poverty Alleviation)

May 7, 2011

Cassava News 97

Vietnam urged to rethink the plan to develop cassava plants

VietNamNet Bridge – Cassava products have been selling like hot cakes. Meanwhile, the consumption is expected to increase further in the next years. However, development programmers still have been called to reconsider the plan to develop cassava plants

The rise of the cassava plants

It is now the second time that Vietnam has witnessed the boom of cassava plant since 1975. The first time occurred during the first years after the country’s union, when the rice and maize output was low. Just within three years, since 1979, the cassava growing area increased by two folds, to the record high of 461,400 hectares, while the output also climbed to the record high of 3.422 million tons.

Later, when Vietnam became a rice export power, cassava plants became less attractive in the eyes of farmers, who preferred to grow rice to earn money.

However, cassava plants, once again, have become “favored” by farmers, which have hindered the development of many other kinds of plants. The cassava growing area has increased by 7.6 percent to 496,200 hectares, while the output has increased by 15.7 percent to 8.522 million tons.

Vietnamese farmers have been rushing to grow cassava because they can see the high demand from the Chinese market.

In 2010, Vietnam exported 1.7 million tons of cassava products in total, of which, China alone consumed 92.4 percent. The percentage was 94.1 percent in the first two months of the year. Fresh cassava has also been carried out continuously to China across the border gates.

Why cassava?

While Vietnamese farmers feel happy with the money they earn from exporting cassava to China, experts have called on to reconsider the plan on developing cassava plants.
Nguyen Dinh Bich, a well known trade expert from the Trade Research Institute, said on Thoi bao Kinh te Saigon, that Vietnam is not the country which has advantages in developing cassava plants for export. In the world, only the countries with large area and thin population density can reserve many areas for growing cassava. This explains why in the world, only four countries have the cassava growing areas of more than one million hectares, namely Nigeria (3.8 million hectares), Brazil (1.8-1.9 million), Thailand (1.3 million) and Indonesia (1.2 million).

Besides Ghana, there are only three other poor countries in the world which have the cassava growing areas exceeding Vietnam’s, including Angola, Tanzania and Mozambique.

Regarding the yield; though Vietnam’s cassava output in 2009 was high at 16.8 tons per hectare, which was much higher than the average yield in the world, the figure is still lower than the average level of 20.2 tons per hectare in Asia and 22.7 tons per hectares in Thailand.

The demand for cassava is believed to increase sharply in the time to come, as enterprises need cassava to make many kinds of products. Cassava is being used in making seasoning powder, used in food industry. Especially, the demand for animal breeding alone is at 1.5 million tons per annum. Besides, Vietnam also has five ethanol factories and tens of other factories making alcohol of different kinds, which also need cassava.

However, Bich has pointed out that Vietnam cannot compete with China, even though the cassava yield has been increasing considerably in recent years. Since the cassava prices have been increasing too sharply, many enterprises have to shift to use other kinds of materials, which explain why the imports of maize and wheat have been increasing rapidly.

The third problem that experts have pointed out to persuade development programmers to put a brake on the cassava growing area development, is that while growing cassavas mostly serve the demand from foreign countries, Vietnam would lack land to develop other important farm produce, because the agriculture land fund will not be enlarged.

Statistics show that while cassava plants see “hot development”, the growing areas of many other kinds of plants has been decreasing. The cotton growing area, for example, has reduced by 6.9 percent per annum, while the sugar cane area by 1.3 percent per annum. Especially, the cashew growing area has been decreasing for the third consecutive years by 11 percent in total

Source: Viet Nam Net to follow TBKTSG

Sep 6, 2012

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