‘Africa needs to more than double cassava production to feed itself by 2050’

AFRICA needs to double her cassava production to avert a major food crisis by 2050, says the Director for the Global Cassava Partnership for the 21st Century (GCP21), Dr Claude Fauquet in Lagos.

Addressing a world press conference in Lagos, Dr Fauquet described the low root yields of cassava in Africa as unacceptable and called on member nations to adequately invest in the crop to change the current yield per hectare.

Though accounting for 55 percent of global cassava root production, Africa’s yield per hectare (ha) is the lowest in the world with about 10 tons per ha as opposed to Asia where average yield is 21 tonnes per ha, -or double the yield in Africa. Read more