HARVESTING OF CASSAVA
It feels good to be in a community where we show our passion for Agriculture. Everyone here would agree with me that without agriculture, tnere is no food. Agriculture, whether practiced as subsistence or commercial is very important as it is the base of our survival. As long as we can not live without food, we can not live wirhout food. It is now necessary for one to engage in agricultre no matter how small the space you have is.
Today, I am presenting to you all, the produce from my cassava farm. The harvest season is here so I have harvested some of the cassava from the farm.
SCIENTIFIC CLASSIFICATION OF CASSAVA
Cassava is scientifically classified as shown below:
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
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| Family: | Euphorbiaceae |
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| Order: | Malpighiales |
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| Genus: | Manihot |
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| Species: | M. esculenta |
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There are two varities of cassava that can be planted namely:
- The bitter cassava
- The sweet cassava
The bitter cassava contains higher toxins than the sweet cassava. Cassava is one of the highest source of carbohydrates.
Cassava is a annual crop that is planted in tropical regions.
Cassava does not just appear as a tuber in the soil. During the planting season, the cassava stem is cut in 4cm to 5cm lenghth. After the cutting, the stem would be put into the hip of soil by the farmers. The planting is done between march and April as the rain is about starting. Weeding is done intermitently two or three times once in a year before harvesting is done.
During the course of its growth, there are some diseases that could affect its growth. They are:
Viruses
Fungi
Bacteria
and insects
Cassava is such a crop that has a higher chances of survival. Some of the factors that can determine its yield includes:
- The amount of rainfall
- The quality of soil
- The temperature
- Flood
HARVESTING:
Cassava gets matured and harvested after one year. The harvesting is done by pulling the stem and using the knife or hoe to cut the tubers.
It is an edible starchy tuber crop. It is consumed whe boiled and prepared as a ready to eat food known as Tapioca in Nigeria.
Cassava can further be processesd by heating to obtain its dry form or state.
USES OF CASSAVA
Cassava as been said, is an edible crop. It is useful for many purposes. For subsistence farmers, they process cassava to produce starch as a source of carbohydrates known as garri.
Cassava is a raw material in the industrial sector
It has a wider application as it could be used to produce other goods. Cassava could be used to produce the following goods:
Flour: When cassava is processed nto floor, it could be used now to make cake, bread, noodles.
Starch for laundry
Biofuel
Animal feed
Nutrion
Alcohol beverages
Cassava is a very useful commodity having numerous economic advantages.
Thanks for.taking time to go through the post
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