Cassava as a food.

This review has attempted to examine information pertaining to the role of cassava (Manihot esculenta) as a major food source for a large part of the world population, particularly the countries of South America, Africa, and Asia, where it is primarily a major source of energy for 300 to 500 million people. Its cultivation, usually on small farms with little technology, is estimated to cover on an annual basis about 11 million hectares providing about 105 million tons, more than half of which is consumed by humans. The importance of cassava as an energy source can be seen by its growing demand in the European economic community countries where it forms up to 60% of the balanced diets for swine. Cassava is one of the crops that converts the greatest amount of solar energy into soluble carbohydrates per unit of area, thus 1 kg of moisture-free cassava meal may yield up to about 3750 kcal which would mean that a yearly production of 15 tons of cassava meal per hectare would yield some 56 million kcal. The major limitations of cassava as food appear to be its poor protein content and quality and the rapid post harvest deterioration of its roots which usually prevents their storage in the fresh state for more than a few days. However, in addition to its use for culinary purposes, cassava finds application in industrial products such as an adhesive for laundry purposes, for manufacturing paper, alcohol, butanol, dextrin, adhesive tape, textile sizing, and glue.