Cassava

"I yam what I yam." - Popeye

Twice this week I've come across a reference to cassava, a yam like vegetable that is rarely seen in America (except as tapioca) but vitally important in other parts of the world. The cassava, also called a yucca, is an odd food that contains nearly the maximum theoretical concentration of starch on a dry weight basis among food crops. Fresh roots contain about 30% starch plus calcium, phosphorus and vitamin C but very little protein or anything else useful. It can be poisonous with traces of cyanide that must be removed when preparing. Nutritionally it's like eating unenriched white bread.

And yet the cassava has fed South America for thousands of years and is today either the primary or secondary food source in the humid and sub-humid areas of tropical Africa and vital to sub-Saharan Africa. It is a vital staple for about 500 million people and is grown in India and across Asia into Thailand, Vietnam and China. On reason for its popularity is its hardiness. Cassava thrives better in poor soils than any other major food plant and rarely needs fertilization. Cassava is very drought resistant and very tolerant of neglect; it can be left for up to three years in the ground before harvesting. So if a farmer catches malaria and is laid up for a month or two, the crop won't care. In additional the cassava leaves contain protein and vitamins.

My first encounter with cassava this week was in a TED talk describing an attempt to genetically alter cassava to contain vitamin A (like a yam) to improve the health of millions. The second encounter was no so positive, there is a global virus infecting cassava crops. “Even the pigs refuse [to eat] this,” said one farmer. Some are comparing this to the great potato famine of the 1840s that caused starvation in Ireland and resulted in mass migration of Irish to the US. Fortunately the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (yes the Bill Gates of Microsoft) is spending tens of millions of dollars to find a cure.

Bottom Line

Hopefully a cure to the cassava virus will be found soon and starvation will be prevented. In the meantime the Gates Foundation is teaching farmers how NOT to spread the virus.

See also
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cassava