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.

Until recently, economists studying economic development have tended to consider it as a universal process, or focussed their attention on common aspects. This book originates from the growing recognition of significant sectoral differences in economic development and examines the catching-up process in five different economic sectors: pharmaceuticals, telecommunications equipment, semiconductors, software, and agro-food industries. Each of these sector studies explore the learning and catch-up processes in various developing countries, in order to identify both the common features, and those which differ significantly across sectors and nations. The authors pay particular attention to China, India, Brazil, Korea and Taiwan. Edited by two of the leading scholars in the field, this book will prove to be invaluable for academics and postgraduate students interested in economic and technological development, and evolutionary economics.

"This book investigates the impact of diverse cultures on the development and actualization of global economic entities, exploring advanced methods and best practices for the effective utilization and management of financial organizations within a globalized political context"--Provided by publisher.

Cassava is a staple crop in a large number of countries due to its adaptability to a variety of climatic conditions. It has spread extensively throughout Latin America, tropical Asia, and Sub-Saharan Africa. Cassava, which is well known for its high carbohydrate content, is the third most carbohydrate-rich food after rice and maize. This book discusses the diversity of cassava and its microbiome, cassava cultivation and postharvest practices, as well as crop yield-reducing diseases. Due to its widespread use and market importance, cassava has been subjected to biological and technological intervention to ensure food safety. This book will help readers to gain knowledge about cassava, its biological properties, and some of the strategies and procedures necessary to increase cassava crop output.

In recent times, results of various adoption studies have been mixed, raising questions regarding why some improved farm technologies are still not widely adopted several years after their first introduction. Many improved cassava varieties have been introduced to millions of farm households across Africa south of the Sahara. Using an extensive review of cassava-adoption literature focused on Nigeria, this paper discusses the uptake of improved cassava varieties. Generic measurement and methodological issues in the literature are illuminated and alternative approaches suggested. The literature can be improved to better inform policy by considering issues such as attribution constraint due to varietal identification challenges and sample selection bias that can limit interpretation of findings. Very few studies disaggregated adoption by men and women, thus the literature can provide more policy relevance by giving adequate attention to gender considerations. Also, the use of only descriptive statistics and dichotomous choice models is most common while issues of sequencing, simultaneity, endogenity, and social learning effects in adoption decisions are under-evaluated. The local germplasm at research institutions in the country is not exhaustive and thus efforts should focus on improving the database for an effective use of a DNA fingerprinting technique in the varietal identification process.