Philippine Postharvest Industry Profile:  CASSAVA

 

USES

 

Cassava,  Manihot esculenta  Crantz, is also known as camoteng-kahoy or balinghoy (Philippines), ubi kettella or kaspe (Indonesia), manioca, rumu or yucca (Latin America), mandioca or aipim (Brazil), manioc (Madagascar and French-speaking Africa), tapioca (India, Malaysia), cassava and sometimes cassada (English-speaking regions in Africa, Thailand, Sri Lanka).  

 

FOOD

 

·          

    • edible tubers is prepared in many forms that serve as a staple food in many tropical countries.  
    • directly cooked (boiled, baked or fried)
    • grated and squeezed or pressed to extract the sap, the remaining "meal" is baked as source of carbohydrates or may be fermented.  The "meal" is also rehydrated with water or added to soups or stews
    • Grated and squeezed cassava is dried for storage and made into dough for cooking.

 

    • Uncooked cassava is not safe to eat because of the concentration of cyaogenic glucosides that could be toxic.  This is reduced through cooking.

 

·          

    • cassava flour and starch are used as raw material in baked products such as breads, biscuits, crackers, pearls of tapioca, cream sandwiches
    • cassava starch is used for food items as:
    • thickener paste for soups, sauces, gravies, etc.
    • binder and stabilizer for many processed food products (such as sausages and processed meat products)
    • gelatinized products or manufactured into dextrose and glucose syrup as sweetening agents for confectioneries (candies, jellybeans, toffee, hard and soft gums,  boiled sweets), caramel as coloring agent for food and beverages, and canned/preserved fruits
    • raw material for the manufacture of MSG (monosodium Glutamate)
    • raw material for the manufacture of beer products, alcohol, ethanol and vinegar
    • raw material for the manufacture of vermicelli ("noodle" or "sotanghon")
    • young tender leaves can be used a potherb, containing high levels of protein (8-10% F.W.) which is prepared in similar manner as spinach (http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/Crops/CropFactSheets/cassava.html)

 

NON-FOOD

 

·          

    • filler contributing to the solid content of pills and tablets and other pharmaceutical products
    • cassava starch is also a chemical raw material in manufacturing plastics and the tanning of leather, coating, sizings and adhesives, paper-making and textiles
    • animal feel ingredient in the form of chips and pellets (common in Asia)
    • cassava starch has unique properties, such as its high viscosity and its resistance to freezing, which make it competitive with other industrial starches

 

WORLD STATISTICS

 

      Source:  Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, www.fao.org

 

·          

    • FAO forecasts that production will rise to nearly 210 million tons by 2005.  The following table shows global cassava production.

Top 10 Cassava Producing Countries, 2000-2004 (FAO Data)

Countries

Year 2000

Year 2001

Year 2002

Year 2003

Year 2004

Average Production (MT)

Percent Share to Total (%)

Nigeria

32,010,000

32,068,000

32,749,000

32,913,000

38,179,000

33,583,800

17.89412

Brazil

23,335,974

22,577,100

23,065,580

22,146,800

24,038,888

23,032,868

12.27237

Thailand

19,064,000

18,396,000

16,868,300

18,430,000

20,400,000

18,631,660

9.92732

 Indonesia

16,089,100

17,054,600

16,913,104

18,523,800

19,264,000

17,568,921

9.36107

Congo, Dem Republic of

15,959,000

15,435,700

14,929,410

14,944,600

14,950,500

15,243,842

8.12222

Ghana

8,106,800

8,965,840

9,731,040

10,239,340

9,738,812

9,356,366

4.98526

Tanzania, United Rep of

7,120,000

6,884,000

6,888,000

6,890,000

6,890,000

6,934,400

3.69479

 India

6,014,100

6,768,400

6,515,900

7,000,000

6,700,000

6,599,680

3.51644

Mozambique

5,361,974

5,988,282

5,924,551

6,149,897

6,150,000

5,914,941

3.15160

Angola

4,433,026

5,394,322

5,620,419

5,699,331

5,600,000

5,349,420

2.85028

 

·          

    • On average, farmers produce about 10 tons of cassava per hectare, but yields can reach as high as 40 tons.  It is estimated that the introduction of high-yield varieties, improved pest and disease control and better processing methods could increase cassava production in Africa by 150 percent.
    • In 1995, Thailand exported 3.3 million tons of cassava pellets, mostly to the European Union.
    • More than 30 percent of the cassava produced in Latin America is used for domestic animal feed, compared to less than 2 percent in Africa.
    • Research in Cameroon has shown that poultry breeders could lower their production costs by 40 percent by incorporating cassava into their chicken feed.
    • Asia leads the way in the production of starches derived from cassava
    • in 2004, Philippines ranks 20th in the major cassava producing countries.

 

PHILIPPINES STATISTICS

HECTARAGE

 

 

 

Historical Average (1994-2003)

:

217,160 has

 

2003

:

209,214 has

 

Major Locations

:

Lanao Del Sur (13.9%)

Sulu (12.4%)

Camarines Sur (12.4%)

 

 

 

 

PRODUCTION

 

 

 

Historical Average (1994-2003)

:

1,795,506 MT

 

2003

:

1,622,242 MT

 

Value

:

P6,570.08 million

 

Major Producers

:

Lanao del Sur (29.4%)

Basilan (12.9%)

Sulu (9.4%)

YIELD

 

 

 

Historical Average (1994-2003)

:

6.89 MT/ha

 

2003

:

7.75 MT/ha

 

Top Yielders

:

Lanao del Sur (16.41 MT/ha)

Basilan (12.12 MT/ha)

 

 

 

 

PRICE (Annual Average)

 

 

 

Farmgate

:

P4.05/kg

 

Wholesale

:

P5.42/kg

 

 

 

 

AVERAGE COST OF PRODUCTION PER KG

:

P1.61

 

 

 

 

IMPORTS

 

Manioc, (cassava) flour, meal and powder

 

Volume

:

134.02 MT

 

Value

:

P1.25 million

 

Major Supplier

:

Indonesia (100.0%)

 

 

 

 

EXPORTS

 

 

 

 

 

Manioc, flour, meal & powder

 

Volume

:

65.79 MT

 

Value

:

P3.58 million

 

Major Supplier

:

Japan (99.5%)

 

 

 

Manioc, (cassava) starch

 

Volume

:

35.06 MT

 

Value

:

P0.40 million

 

Major Supplier

:

Myanmar (100%)

 

 

 

Cassava, fresh/dried whether or not sliced in the form of pellets

 

Volume

:

850.44 MT

 

Value

:

P70.32 million

 

Major Supplier

:

USA (83.8%)

 

 

 

 

DOMESTIC CONSUMPTION

 

 

 

 

Volume (Net Food Disposable)

:

163,065 MT

 

 

Value

:

Retail price data are not available

 

 

Volume (Processing)

:

1,367,052 MT

 

 

Value

:

P7,409.42 million

 

Source: 2003 Commodity Fact Sheets 10th Edition, Bureau of Agricultural Statistics (BAS)

 

POSTHARVEST HANDLING

·          

    • stems and leaves are first removed before harvest; simple digging implements (such as bolo or sharpened stick) are used to aid in harvesting the tubers; cassava is lifted and pulled by hand from the soil
    • nylon sacks are used to haul the harvested tubers from the field to the farmer's shed
    • most farmers do not store their crop, instead, the tubers are left un-harvested until ready to be marketed or processed; some farmers store harvested tubers under the soil or mulch
    • manual or semi-mechanized implements are being used by some farmers, such as:
    • washer-peeler
    • grater, rasper, slicer, chipper
    • solar drying of cassava chips
    • three major classifications used in trading:  Large, Medium and Small.  Rejects are those that are thin, broken and bruised

 

POSTHARVEST TECHNOLOGIES AND DEVELOPMENT STUDIES

 

·          

    •  A stationary mechanical dryer is available at the Philippine Rootcrop Research and Training Center (PRCRTC)
    • Multi-crop dryer is available at the Bureau of Postharvest Research and Extension (BPRE) 
    • Recommendations of PRCRTC-ViSCA on tuber storage

·          

    • Analysis on secondary metabolism changes in cassava tissue and physiological deterioration
    •  Design and development of cassava washer-peeler
    • Improved technique for cassava cyanide removal
    • Effect of delayed processing of cassava tubers on alcohol recovery
    • Amylose activity of local strain of Streptococcus bovis on raw cassava starch
    • Comparative hydrocyanic acid (HCN) content of fresh and processed tubers of five selected cassava varieties
    • Cassava starch and powder as binders for coconut husk charcoal briquettes
    • Fungal protein production using cassava flour as substrate

 

    • A mechanical harvester has been developed in Brazil which grabs onto the stem and lifts the roots from the ground
    • Removing the leaves two weeks before harvest lengthens the shelf life for two weeks. 
    • Dipping the roots in paraffin or wax or storing them in plastic bags reduce the incidence of vascular streaking and extends the shelf life to three or four weeks

 

GAPS / PROBLEMS OF THE CASSAVA POSTHARVEST INDUSTRY

 

·          

    • Short shelf life of harvested roots and processed products
    • Harvesting is laborious & time consuming
    • During rainy season, small or broken tubers need to be dried immediately
    • Storage problems of roots for planting materials
    • High production and postproduction cost
    • Prices for fresh tubers highly fluctuating and not comparable to sweetpotato (very low buying price)
    • Cassava has longer production period & a soil nutrient depleting commodity
    • Lack of supply of cassava roots as raw material for processing
    • A cassava processing plant in Mindanao was closed because of the lack of raw material source for processing into flour and starch
    • Lack of farm-to-market roads

 

PROPOSED R&D AGENDA / INTERVENTIONS

 

·          

    • Improve packaging materials such as cellophane and plastic materials
    • Mechanize the production and postproduction activities to reduce the labor cost
    • Adapt the multi-crop dryer available at BPRE
    • Use the PRCRTC-VisCA recommendations on tuber storage
    • Increase the volume of production but reduce the production inputs
    • Techno-demo and commercialization of processing technologies  

This page was last updated on: Wednesday, October 17, 2007

www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/Crops/CropFactSheets/cassava.html

www.fao.org/NEWS/Factfile/FF000-e.htm

http://www.map-adc.org.ph/da/planting%20cassava.htm

http://waynesword.palomar.edu/vege1.htm#cassava

Please check these pages often for updates.  Brought to you by the

Planning and Evaluation Department

 

 Bureau of Postharvest Research and Extension

CLSU Compound, Science City of Muņoz 3120 Nueva Ecija, Philippines

 

Copyright © 2007 BPRE. All rights reserved.

For questions, comments, contributions, please contact the webmaster:

HOME