Eaten by both humans and animals, and with more than 20 derivative products, cassava offers considerable opportunities for income and advantages for food security. This versatile shrub is widely used in the food, textiles and other industries. For example, cassava tubers may be sold for preparation into pastries, tapioca, food pasta or chips, while the plant’s by-products include paper, glues and alcohol. Attractively laid out, with step-by-step guides and a wealth of colourful figures, illustrations and tables, this handbook makes simple techniques available to cassava producers, improving production, storage and processing.

Introduction; The smallholder socioeconomic environment; Cassava production with purchased inputs; Cassava production response to use of purchased inputs; Production for sale; Household cash income generation; Impact of high-yielding varieties on cassava cash income; Summary of observations and conclusion.

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.