In Nigeria, cassava is one of the basic starchy foods. It has many names given to it by the many ethnic groups in Nigeria. Example, the Hausa calls it Rogo, the Yoruba calls it Ege while the Igbo calls it Akpu. In Nigeria it is not normally grown alone because it takes a longer time before it matures. For this it is grown together with other crops examples are maize, melon, and many others.
Cassava Cultivation and Processing in Nigeria
Its cultivation in Nigeria depends on the part of area of the county. Example, it is profitably grown in the Southern Part of the country between the month of June and August - inclusive.
Many procedures are observed in the process of its cultivation. They are:
- Land Citation: This is the first work to be done because in Nigeria loamy soil is the suitable soil for effective growing of cassava.
- Bush Clearing: The bush on the land to be cultivated should be cleared. This may be done using matchets or machines and left for some days before burning to help facilitate burning. This burning can be done by gathering the trash (the cut off plants) at any corner before burning. It is better to get them burnt at a corner than burning them scattered throughout the whole land.
- Land Tilling: In Nigeria, land tilling is done by the use of hoe or machine. This land tilling can be organized into mounds or ridges.
- Planting: Since cassava cannot be planted using its seed like as in yam, rather it is planted using its stem cuttings (cut stems). This can be obtained from the stems of matured cassava plant. When these stem cuttings are ready in the length ranging from 20cm to 30cm long. Planting can be done by placing the right position of the stem cutting inside the tilled soil.
- Weeding: First, weeding is the process of removing unwanted plant from the farm. For this reason that this should be done in the farm therefore care must be taken in order not to destroy what has been planted in the farm. Therefore hoe or matchets or herbicide can be used. The herbicide in used is been carefully added in order not to affect the crop (cassava) negative. Weeding can be started when the weed must have started sprouting. This should be about three weeks after cultivation.
- Manuring: In Nigeria, fertilizers and farm yard manure are commonly used. Fertilizers used in Nigeria for effective yield of the crop (cassava) are NPK with high content of potassium.
- Harvesting: Some types of cassava get fully matured within nine months. Some stays for twelve months before they get matured while some last up to two years before they get fully matured. And this harvesting can be done by uprooting with hand or using other suitable harvesting implements in digging out the tubers.
- Storage: There is no other means to store cassava without been processed into cassava floor, processing it into what Nigerians called garri or soaking it in the water and allowed it to ferment and then sieve using a sieve.
