It’s the going to ‘MidJourney’ to find a picture of ‘Nigerian farmers uprooting their cassava plants and throwing them away as they rebel against the plant’, for me 😅😂😅😂
Cassava is the new Oiiiyeelll. #CassavaBoom is coming!
The intro to this piece reminded me of the related challenge of political fragmentation that's associated with tubers noted by Nonso Obikili's paper. Seems we should be against more than just cassava
Yes, there’s a whole story about Yam doing a number on Nigeria and Nigerians. We touched on this a bit in Formation but it’s a whole story on its own. I remember one of the sources we used in Formation referring to it as the ‘tyranny of yams’
I expected to see more reasons why cassava is part of our problem in Nigeria but could not find them. If it is just because it is easy to cultivate, then " we have to hear you again on that".
😂😂😂 not you coming for the patron meal of Nigerian comfort food landscape. ‘Sir, when a man is tired of garri, he is tired of life’ - some wizened Saro person in 1923 probably
It makes sense that such a crop that prospers against the fashioned weapons became a staple. What is cassava adjacent that would offer an incremental level of attention to detail, cultivated expertise, etc? Make we start undoing the Columbian exchange small small
I can't decide if I'm to read this as satire. While the crop is truly "easy" to grow compared with grains and cereals, it is one of the crops we are actually good at growing and it has lots of derivatives. I'd love to comment on this post in the same spirit in which it was posted but, as a man from Kogi state, Nigeria's Cassava Republic, I struggle to partake in any conversation about tubers and roots in jest. The state is hoping to welcome investors with over 300,000 hectares of virgin flatland to be dedicated to cassava and sugarcane. Is this piece saying "Don't do it"? Because "It's too easy"?
Granted, root crops like cassava made it too difficult to build states in the past before, but we are no longer in that era. The derivatives that we can get from cassava are big enough for us to make it a cash crop priority. Thailand made $2.2 billion from it in 2022 while we made only $180m despite being the world's largest producer. We are sleeping on it.
This is funny to me as a half Ogun/Kogi man where cassava is king, but I bet if Nigerians knew they could make so much from it, they'd stop drinking garri kia kia....just querying meta AI churns up below, even I'm tempted & I'm lazy as .......you know what:
1. Food products:
- Cassava flour (used in baked goods, pasta, and as a thickening agent)
- Cassava starch (used as a thickening agent, in paper production, and as an adhesive)
- Tapioca pearls (used in desserts and drinks)
- Cassava chips (fried or baked snacks)
2. Animal feed:
- Cassava meal (used as a protein source in animal feed)
3. Industrial products:
- Biodegradable plastics
- Textile sizing (used in textile manufacturing)
- Paper coating (used in paper production)
- Adhesives
4. Beverages:
- Cassava beer
- Cassava wine
5. Pharmaceutical products:
- Starch-based excipients (used as fillers or binders in pharmaceutical tablets)
6. Cosmetics:
- Skincare products (cassava starch is used as an absorbent and thickening agent)
It’s the going to ‘MidJourney’ to find a picture of ‘Nigerian farmers uprooting their cassava plants and throwing them away as they rebel against the plant’, for me 😅😂😅😂
Cassava is the new Oiiiyeelll. #CassavaBoom is coming!
SMH....not even with one trillion tubers can you achieve a cassava 'boom'.
This was interesting to read and learn from.
Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for reading!
The intro to this piece reminded me of the related challenge of political fragmentation that's associated with tubers noted by Nonso Obikili's paper. Seems we should be against more than just cassava
https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/113201/1/MPRA_paper_113201.pdf
Yes, there’s a whole story about Yam doing a number on Nigeria and Nigerians. We touched on this a bit in Formation but it’s a whole story on its own. I remember one of the sources we used in Formation referring to it as the ‘tyranny of yams’
I thought we were using it to commodify the naira 😅😅😅
Oh God please don’t remind me of that guy 😂😂
Lol.
Surprised to discover that the global trade in cassava is barely $5bn though.
I expected to see more reasons why cassava is part of our problem in Nigeria but could not find them. If it is just because it is easy to cultivate, then " we have to hear you again on that".
😂😂😂 not you coming for the patron meal of Nigerian comfort food landscape. ‘Sir, when a man is tired of garri, he is tired of life’ - some wizened Saro person in 1923 probably
It makes sense that such a crop that prospers against the fashioned weapons became a staple. What is cassava adjacent that would offer an incremental level of attention to detail, cultivated expertise, etc? Make we start undoing the Columbian exchange small small
I can't decide if I'm to read this as satire. While the crop is truly "easy" to grow compared with grains and cereals, it is one of the crops we are actually good at growing and it has lots of derivatives. I'd love to comment on this post in the same spirit in which it was posted but, as a man from Kogi state, Nigeria's Cassava Republic, I struggle to partake in any conversation about tubers and roots in jest. The state is hoping to welcome investors with over 300,000 hectares of virgin flatland to be dedicated to cassava and sugarcane. Is this piece saying "Don't do it"? Because "It's too easy"?
I am inclined to agree with you.
Granted, root crops like cassava made it too difficult to build states in the past before, but we are no longer in that era. The derivatives that we can get from cassava are big enough for us to make it a cash crop priority. Thailand made $2.2 billion from it in 2022 while we made only $180m despite being the world's largest producer. We are sleeping on it.
That is the writer's point! Nigeria only engages mainly in the easy act of "stick it in and siddon look" cassava value chain
True, actually, and it is symptomatic of how we do for almost everything sadly.
This is funny to me as a half Ogun/Kogi man where cassava is king, but I bet if Nigerians knew they could make so much from it, they'd stop drinking garri kia kia....just querying meta AI churns up below, even I'm tempted & I'm lazy as .......you know what:
1. Food products:
- Cassava flour (used in baked goods, pasta, and as a thickening agent)
- Cassava starch (used as a thickening agent, in paper production, and as an adhesive)
- Tapioca pearls (used in desserts and drinks)
- Cassava chips (fried or baked snacks)
2. Animal feed:
- Cassava meal (used as a protein source in animal feed)
3. Industrial products:
- Biodegradable plastics
- Textile sizing (used in textile manufacturing)
- Paper coating (used in paper production)
- Adhesives
4. Beverages:
- Cassava beer
- Cassava wine
5. Pharmaceutical products:
- Starch-based excipients (used as fillers or binders in pharmaceutical tablets)
6. Cosmetics:
- Skincare products (cassava starch is used as an absorbent and thickening agent)
Just reading this and I remember the "commodification of the naira" guy. 🤣 Cassava is the answer!
If it is necessary for Nigeria's economic salvation, I shall stop drinking garri. But to ask us from Enugu to also give up abacha is hard o.