Cassava
is highly demanded and used for food and Industrial purpose. For human
consumption, it can be fermented, sieved or cooked as “foo-foo” (fufu) or it
can be grated and fried into flour and eaten as garri. It can also be boiled,
sliced soaked in water and dried. In this form, it called “Abacha and when wet,
it is called “Tapioca”. The leaves are very important source of vitamins.
The
tuber can also be processed into cassava flour used to prepare different recipes
like short crusty pastry, meat pies, cassava bread, cassava flour doughnuts and
cassava chin-chin (Onabalu, Abbass and Bokany, 1998). Onuoha (1985) npted that
the edible portions of fresh cassava (80-90%) contains 62% water, 35% carbohydrate,
1-2% fibre, 0.3% fat 1% mineral, vitamins A,B,B2, and C, thiamin and conditions,
its high productivity per unit of land and labour, the certainty of obtaining
some yields even under the most adverse conditions and the possibly of
maintaining continuity of supply throughout the year make this root crop a major
agricultural crop of the farming systems in many areas of Africa, South of the Sahara.
Famine rarely occurs in areas where cassava is widely grown, since it provides a
stable base of the food production system. (Asadu & Nweke, 1999). Which
indicates that cassava has the potentials for eliminating food crisis and
famine. Asadu and Nweke further opined that the absence of cassava in the present farming and food
system of Africa would lead to catastrophic levels of starvation and death of
Millions of people. Therefore, Cassava deserves a special recognition as crop
that has saved many lives in Africa.
Location
and nature of soil do not affect the production of cassava. This is why there
are many cultivars in each locality where cassava is grown. The cultivars are distinguished
on the basis of leaf, shapes, size, plant height, flower colour, tuber shape,
maturity, age, yield and hydrocyanic acid content. The hydrocyanic acid content.
The hydrocyanic acid content makes the cassava to have two main varieties.
These are bitter cassava known as Manihot utilisimma or Marihot esculenta and
sweet cassava known as Manihot palmate (Anopchilli 1978). According to
Silvester (1989) some 14 Million hectares of cassava are grown worldwide
producing 120 to 130 Million tones of tubers. Despite this prodigious quantity
that is produced, the demand for this crop for food and industrial.
Use
s of cassava far exceed supply. However in a bid to reverse this trend shortage,
improved cassava production technologies have been introduced. They include the
use of improved varieties, herbicides to control weeds. Insecticides to control
insect pests, fertilizers to improve soil fertility, correct spacing for optimum
plant population and machines for different farm operations. These efforts notwithstanding
increased productivity cannot be obtained if farmers fail to adopt and apply improved
farm practices in cassava production. One of the important methods or ways of
selling these ideas of improved practices to farmers is through the extension
service.
The
term extension was derived from the practice of British Universities of having one
educational programme within the premises of the University and another away
from the university buildings. The programme conducted outside the university was
described as “extension education.” The expression connoted an extension of
knowledge from the university to places and people far beyond. The term
“Extension Education” was first introduced in 1873 by Cambridge University in England
to describe a particular system dedicated to the dissemination of knowledge to
rural people where they lived and worked. Within a short time, the idea had spread
to other parts of Britain, Europe and North America and A frica (Kelsey and Heame,
1966).
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