Cassava – manihot esculenta and its value chain
Documented cassava projects from my farm and processing work in Abia State, Eastern Nigeria.
I am Chimeremeze Emeh, a cassava farmer from Ngwa land with over 3decades of on-farm experience growing, harvesting, and processing cassava.
Everything in this category comes directly from that experience, real activities, real observations, and real results from a working cassava farm in Eastern Nigeria.
Each post in this category documents a specific project or activity as it happens: a harvest from one of my plots, a batch of garri being processed, stem selection before planting, how I handle a pest problem in the field, what a particular cassava variety looks like at different stages of growth, or how I assess soil and prepare land for a new season.
This is not theoretical knowledge. It is the kind of understanding that only comes from decades of doing the work, clearing bush, forming mounds, planting stems, weeding, watching the crop grow through different weather conditions, digging up the tubers, and processing them into the foods that have fed families in this part of Nigeria for generations.
If you want to understand cassava farming from the inside, you are in the right place. Follow along as I document my cassava journey, one project at a time.
They planted. They tended. They harvested. Then they were told to take their cassava to Lagos, Benue or Ogun or sell at a ridiculously low cost. This is what cassava farming actually looks like in Ntigha, Isiala Ngwa North LGA, Abia State.
A firsthand account of turning a traditional cassava variety harvested near my home in Abia State into garri, and the observations that only come from doing this work for over 3 decades.
A firsthand account of harvesting a traditional cassava variety near my home in Abia State, Eastern Nigeria, and what comes next.
Cassava is my town’s most favorite crop in the Eastern part of Nigeria, fueling daily meals, traditions, and family livelihoods.