When a Nigerian novelist, Florence Nwapa (1931-1993) wrote about the importance of cassava in her poem—Cassava, not many people may have appreciated the importance of cassava in national and food security. Nwapa’s article was inspired by the events that occurred during the Nigerian civil war (1967-1970) and how cassava was able to save lives, guarantee food security, and provided incomes to farmers. The four stanza poem went thus:
We thank the almighty God
For giving us cassava
We hail thee cassava
The great cassava
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