The scientists, who have formed an international network called the Global Cassava Partnership, said the world community could not continue to ignore the plight of low-income tropical countries that have been hardest hit by rising oil prices and galloping food price inflation.
Widely grown in tropical Africa, Asia and
Cassava is also the cheapest known source of starch, and used in more than 300 industrial products. One promising application is fermentation of the starch to produce ethanol used in biofuel, although FAO cautions that policies encouraging a shift to biofuel production should carefully consider its effects on food production and food security….Dried manioc Manihot esculenta, also known as cassava, displayed in the market of Abong-Mbang, East Province, Cameroon. Shot by Amcaja, Wikimedia Commons, under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation license, Version 1.2