Cassava is known by various names in Nigeria. To mention a few, the plant is called echuka in Ebira, akpu in Igbo, ege in Yoruba, rogo in Hausa, midaka in Urhobo, okponkoro in Ijeiw and bobozi in Ishan. Nutritionally, cassava contains potassium, iron, calcium, vitamin A, folic acid, sodium, vitamin C, vitamin B-6 and protein, all in the vital human diet.
cassava roots
USES OF CASSAVA
Wherever cassava is grown, it is primarily used as food. In Africa, close to 90 percent of cassava produced is used as food, with very little used for feed and even less export and industries.
About 30 percent is consumed after peeling, cleaning and boiling, while 70 percent is processed into a wide variety of food products including dry chips and flour, cooked paste, wasted or steamed granules, beverages etc.
LOCAL USES OF CASSAVA IN NIGERIA
Nigeria grows more cassava than any other country in the world. Production is driven primarily by the demand for food for nearly 180 million people. Very little cassava is used for livestock feed and agro industry.
Food uses
Cassava is widely used in Nigeria as food. Cassava leaves are very rich in protein and are consumed as a vegetable in some parts of Nigeria. The roots are mostly consumed in the form of gari, fufu, tapioca, starch, kpokpo gari, and lafun. In the northern parts of the country, they are eaten as a raw snack.
Gari
Gari is the popular cassava product in Nigeria. It is a granular finished product obtained by traditional or industrial processing of cassava roots.
The root processing consists of peeling, washing, grating, bagging, fermenting, dewatering, and breaking of the cake, sifting, toasting and cooling. The recommended standard of moisture and cyanide contents of gari are about 8-10% and 10.0 mg / kg respectively.
Fufu (Odorless)
fufu, ready to eat
Fufu is a wet paste made from cassava root. Its production involves steeping of peeled and washed cassava roots in water for 48 hours. After 48 hours, the roots are washed, grated and re-steeped for another 24 hours. Fermented pulp is sieved, dewatered and dried in the sun or oven. The recommended standard of moisture and cyanide contents of fufu are about 12% max and 10mg/ kg respectively.
High Quality Cassava Flour (HQCF)
Its production consists of proper grating of properly peeled and thoroughly washed cassava roots harvested not more than 12 months after planting. The grated pulp is dewatered, sifted and dried in the sun or hot air from a mechanical dryer. Ideally, the operation should not last for more than 24 hours from the time of harvest to the time of drying. Recommended standard or moisture and cyanide content of HQCF are about 10% and 10mg/kg respectively.
HQCF is suitable for use at 100% level for production of queen cake, pear crisp (Chinese product), chinchin and doughnuts. We also found out 90:10 wheat: cassava composite flour could be used in bread production and 80:20 wheat: cassava composite flour in other confectioneries such as biscuits, meat/fish pies, sausage rolls.
About 10% addition of cassava flour to wheat flour for bread baking is one of our institutes achievement with respect to presidential initiative on use of cassava flour for bread production.
Chips
Peeled cassava roots are sliced into small pieces or chips and dried in the sun or by mechanical dryer. Cassava may be stored as chips and milled into flour when needed. Moisture content of chips is about 10%.
Root meal
Its production consists of grating unpeeled cassava roots, fermenting the resulting pulp for 48 hours, dewatering and sun-drying to a moisture content of 13-14%.
Industrial uses
Cassava can be used in many types of products such as food, confectionary, sweeteners, glues, ply wood, textiles, papers, bio degradable products, also in the manufacture of sodium glutamate and medicines. Dry cassava chips and pellets are used in animal feed and in the production of alcohol. Some industrial products from cassava are described below.
Starch
It involves sieving properly peeled, washed and grated cassava roots with good quantity of clean water using a 100-140 micrometer mesh screen. The starch is allowed to sediment and the supernatant decanted. The sedimented starch is dried in the sun or oven.
Ethanol
Cassava chips are an alternative source of raw material for producing alcoholic drinks as well as medical and industrial alcohols.
Pharmaceutical products
Native and modified cassava starches are used as binders, fillers and disintegrating agents for tablet production.
Glues
Cassava starch is a very important raw material in making glue. Cassava starch based – dextrates are excellent adhesives and are used in many applications including pre-gummed papers, tapes, labels, stamps and envelopes.
Biodegradable products
Cassava starch can be used as a biodegradable polymer to replace plastics in packaging materials.
THE FUTURE OF CASSAVA
In the future, modified cassava starches that are specially formulated for individual applications will continue to find new uses.
Cassava in various forms for food, feed and industrial raw material has the potential to help Ebiras aentire Nigeria to improve its food security diversify its manufacturing base, generate more income, raise employment and achieve a favorable trade balance.
Abstracted from: http://ebiraview.net/news/?p=821
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