Articles

Cassava

Early-maturing varieties are ready for harvesting at 9 months, while late-maturing varieties are ready 18 months after planting.
Farmers do not usually harvest all the plants on a plot at the same time. Farmers harvest only the quantity required for immediate use.
Harvesting is easier when the soil is moist.
Harvesting is also easier if planting is on ridges
Cassava roots can be harvested at any time of the year.
Harvesting cassava roots is usually done by hand; it is easy if the soil are sandy or during the rainy season.
In heavier soils or during the dry season, harvesting usually requires digging around the roots to free them and lifting the plant.
To facilitate lifting, the plant is usually cut down about 30 to 50 cm above ground.
The protruding stem is used to lift the roots out of the ground. While lifting, care should be taken not to break the roots, as this will lead to losses if broken roots are not retrieved from the soil and to contamination that may evolve into spoilage.
Mechanical harvesting of cassava is difficult because of the non-uniform geometry of the roots in the ground.

After cassava crop has reached maturity, the quality of roots of the early and medium maturity varieties often deteriorates after 15 months of growth.
They should therefore be harvested on time.
Processing cassava roots and leaves leads to;

Reduction of toxicity
Improvement of palatability
Conversion of the perishable roots and leaves into stable foods, which can be stored for an extended period of time.
Farmers using sweet varieties should process their cassava roots using the cassava chip (makaka) method if the end product is to be used for human consumption.
For bitter varieties farmers should process using either heap fermentation as is done in mulanje or submerged fermentation as is done in Nkhotakota and Nkhatabay.
Farmers are encouraged to store the cassava in flour or chip form.

The first step in processing cassava roots is often to remove the peel.
Peeling is usually done by hand using a knife; the process is slow and labor-intensive, averaging 25 kg per man-hour, but it gives the best result.