Cava project to promote cassava

The production of cassava into animal feed is yielding income to smallholder farmers in Malawi and other parts of Africa.

Cassava Adding Value for Africa (Cava Phase II) Project Director Kolawole Adebayo said this Wednesday in Lilongwe where he toured Ndatani Premier Feeds Company and Masimbe Starch Factory which are producing animal feed from cassava.

“It is quite impressive that cassava is now considered as a raw material and more than a million tons of cassava is going on different routes in Africa,” said Adebayo.

He said most countries regard cassava as a poor crop but now it is used to make poultry feed and generate income.

As one way of advancing sustainable investment in non-traditional cassava value chains, Cava is promoting production of animal feed from cassava.

Ndatani Premier Feeds Manager Alick Kazanga, said cassava is ordinarily cheaper than maize.

“This is very beneficial to the country. If we can adopt the technology to use cassava for livestock, maize will be freed for human consumption and this can be another solution to food insecurity in Malawi,” Kazanga said.

He said cassava is included in poultry feed which is supplemented with soya as a source of protein and maize as a source of carbohydrates, and results have shown that there is not much difference between the growth of animals that feed on maize and cassava.

Vito Sandifolo, Country Manager for Cava, said there is mixed results in this project, especially in Malawi.

“When the season is good, there is more progress on cassava but when there is drought and other calamities, people retain cassava for food instead of selling it as a raw material for feed processing,” he said.