Cassava international trade, prices. Current research in biotechnology.

Cassava is Africa's second most important food crop. The cassava transformation that is now underway in West Africa is fueled by new high yielding TMS varieties that have transformed cassava from a low-yielding, famine-reserve crop to a high-yielding cash crop for both rural and urban consumers. The book highlights the role of cassava as a "poverty fighter" by increasing cassava productivity and driving down the cost of cassava in rural and urban diets.

Cassava is a major tropical tuber crop found throughout the tropics (India, Oceania, Africa and Latin America). Hitherto, there has been no single text covering all aspects of cassava biology, production and utilization. This book fills that gap, representing the first comprehensive research level overview of this main staple crop. Chapters are written by leading experts in this field from all continents. The book is suitable for those working and researching in cassava, in both developed and developing countries, as well as advanced students.

Intended as both an instructional and a reference tool, the volume covers the production and postharvest treatment of cassava. The first part describes production constraints including pests , diseases, weeds, soils agronomic factors, and socioeconomic considerations. In part two, plant morphology, plant physiology and plant breeding are related to yields and diseases resistance. Part three covers postharvest treatment and part four describes cassava research. A bibliography of recommended reading is included.

In this book, the author brings together the latest information on improved strains, modem production systems, better processing methods, innovations in storage and marketing, and the prospects for using cassava to produce fuel alcohol.

Cassava produces about 10 times more carbohydrates than most cereals per unit area, and are ideal for production in marginal and drought prone areas. Cassava, which originated from tropical South America, is a perennial woody shrub with an edible root, which today is grown in tropical and subtropical regions of the world where it provides energy food and serves as a veritable source of food and income for over a billion people. This handbook provides new research on the production, consumption and potential uses of cassava.