The Cassava or 'Manioc' is a woody shrub of the Euphorbiaceae (Spurge) family and is a major source of carbohydrate with a variety of food uses. Tapioca flour, the main by product of the Cassava root is a major source of bioethanol and is key to the biofuel industry.
IPT Cassava features:
Since 2006 IPT's research centre has been proactively testing a number of early-maturing, high root-yielding Cassava varieties with the aim of increasing root volume per hectare. We have secured what is considered to be the current world leading strains of Cassava root in terms of starch percentage per yield, early maturing, drought and flood resistance, and root size.
- LARGER ROOT SIZE PER PLANT FOR HIGHER YIELD PER HECTARE;
- HIGHER PERCENTAGE OF STARCH PER YIELD;
- EARLY MATURING FOR FASTER RETURN ON INVESTMENT;
- DROUGHT AND FLOOD RESISTANT VARIETIES.
| Large Root Mass |
Cassava Cultivar |
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Production and Harvesting
In field plantations, approximately two thousand five hundred cuttings are required to be planted per hectare on an eight month crop cycle. Once the roots are harvested, cuttings from the IPT Cassava stems are graded and can be replanted after one month into the ground for a secondary crop. Every third crop must be rotated with an alternative nitrogen enriching crop such as peanuts (or a legumous crop) due to the depletion of the soil from the high nutrient demand of the Cassava plant.
One hectare of cultivar nursery gardens will yield approximately sixty thousand, two hundred and fifty millimetre length (ten inch) cuttings every nine months with first production within eight months of planting.