(Business in Cameroon) - Abwui Kpwem, Abeng-Ngon and Nkoh Mezui are the three high yield and pest-resistant verities of cassava being reproduced in a 10 hectare farm in the Mafou and Akono Division, Centre Region. “ It is estimated to yield between 19 to 35 tons per hectare compared to local cassava limited at 8 tons per hectare”, an agronomist, Samuel Nanga Nanga confirmed.

Created in 2012, the demonstration farm is a gift from the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and Cameroon’s National Development Program for Roots and Tubers (PNDRT). 

Since 2005, the two institutions have been working on these varieties backed by the technical assistance from the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) and   Institute for Agricultural Research and Development (IRAD).

A statement from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MINADER) said the varieties are adapted to the ecological zones of the country.

About 80 percent of Cameroonian households, consume cassava daily but a 2010 study by Plant Foods for Human Nutrition suggests cassava is a risk factor for inadequate vitamin A, zinc and/or iron intake.

Currently cassava production in Cameroon is estimated at 2.5 million tons and most of it is turned into flour; the rest is fermented to make liquor, feed animals, and increasingly processed into biofuel (ethanol), indicated IRIN news.

Meanwhile, the Minister of Agriculture, Essimi Menye and Minister Delegate at MINADER in Charge of Rural Development on a visit to the cassava demonstration farm last Wednesday May 15, 2013 said Cameroon nurses ambitions of a cassava transformation industry and needs to produce the crop in large quantities.