Development & Aid, Headlines, Human Rights, Indigenous Rights, Latin America & the Caribbean

AGRICULTURE-BRAZIL: Giving Cassava Its Due

Mario Osava

RIO DE JANEIRO, Oct 28 2005 (IPS) - Cassava is the main source of calories for 500 million people around the world, but it has never been accorded the technological or culinary attention merited by its nutritional importance, likely because it is a crop grown and eaten by the poor.

“This poor cousin of traditional agriculture is not treated in accordance with its true potential,” remarked Auro Otsubo, an agronomist who specialises in this starchy tuber at the state-run Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation.

But that is beginning to change, and cassava (Manihot esculenta, also known as manioc) is slowly finding a place in the world’s big markets, Otsubo added.

The renewed interest in this traditional staple food was reflected at the 11th Brazilian Cassava Congress held Tuesday through Friday in Campo Grande, capital of the midwestern state of Mato Grosso do Sul.

A total of 142 papers were presented at the four-day event, which was attended by around 900 cassava farmers, researchers, government authorities and other delegates.

Formerly held every two years, the congress was suspended in 1999. Its revival this year reflects the greater emphasis that will be placed on the crop through a proposed National Cassava Plan, aimed at increasing its competitiveness throughout the production chain, expanding demand, and improving supplies.

Cassava is native to the area known today as Brazil and Paraguay. However, unlike its fellow Old World tuber the potato, which originated in the South American Andes region and went on to conquer the wealthy markets of the North, cassava spread throughout poor regions of the developing South.

It is now grown in more than 80 countries. According to statistics from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), Africa accounted for 53.8 percent of the 184 million tons produced worldwide in 2002, followed by Asia with 28 percent and Latin America and the Caribbean with 18 percent.

Productivity varies greatly. In Nigeria, the world’s leading producer, it stands at 9.5 tons per hectare, as compared to 13.3 tons in Brazil and 14.9 tons in Indonesia, the second and third largest producers, respectively.

A number of “cassava projects” have emerged in Brazil in recent years. Since 2001, a University of Sao Paulo research centre has been studying and reporting on the production and marketing of the crop. In 2004, the agricultural consulting and communications agency Natural created the Brazilian Cassava Project website, featuring news reports and technical articles.

Meanwhile, a cassava project developed by Teresa Corçao, head chef at the chic Rio de Janeiro eatery O Navegador, has a culinary and educational focus. It includes workshops for schoolchildren on the history, significance and ways of preparing what Corçao calls “the bread of Brazil”, given cassava’s role as a dietary staple for the country’s indigenous peoples long before the arrival of Europeans.

Corçao is also working on a documentary about the different ways that cassava is industrially processed and consumed in the northern and southern regions of Brazil. At her restaurant, cassava features prominently on the menu and “wins over a larger number of fans every day,” O Navegador spokeswoman Celeste Vasconcelos told IPS.

For his part, Otsubo stated that cassava “is breaking down barriers and prejudices” and gaining recognition as an excellent dietary alternative. In addition, the starch extracted from cassava flour has a wide range of uses, from the food and beverage sector (it is the source of tapioca, for instance) to the chemical, metallurgical and paper industries, he noted.

Between 25 and 30 tons of cassava can be produced per hectare of land, which is four times the productive yield of corn, another source of starch, Otsubo told IPS. Moreover, since its cultivation requires a large labour force, it can make a major contribution to generating employment and reviving local economies, especially since it can be processed into flour in simple plants that do not require a great deal of technology, he added.

The production of cassava and cassava flour and starch directly employs roughly one million people in this country of 184 million, although exact figures are difficult to obtain, since its cultivation is scattered throughout the country on small farms and much of its processing is carried out in relatively rudimentary facilities.

In Mato Grosso do Sul, where cassava cultivation has expanded significantly, small family farms account for 70 percent of output, a proportion that is similar or even higher in other states, Otsubo observed.

This fact is likely responsible for the limited incorporation of technology in the growing and processing of cassava in Brazil. Farming and processing practices are particularly rudimentary in the north and northeast, where consumption is highest, while the south-central region has seen a greater introduction of technology, mechanisation and the use of inputs like fertilisers and herbicides.

The rejection of technological advances is largely due to “traditionalism”, and the belief that “everyone knows how to grow cassava” without the need for guidance, maintained Otsubo, one of the organisers of this week’s congress.

In addition to more effectively incorporating technology, the sector must also deal with the fact that the market is poorly organised. Brazilian cassava farmers are calling for subsidies to ensure prices that at least cover production costs, in the face of market fluctuations.

In the 1980s, cassava production suffered a serious setback as a result of the government subsidies provided to wheat farmers, as a means of ensuring domestic self-sufficiency in that crop. Cassava consumption dropped as a greater share of the market was taken over by low-cost wheat. In recent years, this trend has been reversed by the adoption of a law authorising the addition of 10 percent cassava starch to wheat flour.

It is vital to establish mechanisms to stabilise demand in order to curb price fluctuations, stressed the president of the Brazilian Association of Cassava Starch Producers, Ricardo Villela. This was in fact one of the main themes of the 11th Congress.

In the meantime, non-governmental organisations like Raízes (Roots) and the Tálamo Institute work nationally and internationally to promote cassava production, research, technological advances and marketing.