Agriculture: humble cassava moves into the limelight.Africa's premier poverty fighter is having a conference named after it, has had a board named in it honour and has been accorded a prestige position in the New Partnership for Africa's Development New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) is an economic development program of the African Union. The NEPAD was adopted at the 37th session of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government in July 2001 in Lusaka, Zambia. (Nepad). The commodity: cassava cassava (kəsä`və) or manioc (măn`ēŏk), name for many species of the genus Manihot of the family Euphorbiaceae (spurge family). . Last December, a special inauguration INAUGURATION. This word was applied by the Romans to the ceremony of dedicating some temple, or raising some man to the priesthood, after the augurs had been consulted. It was afterwards applied to the installation (q.v. took place at Nepad's secretariat in Johannesburg of the Pan-African Cassava Initiative, a new agriculture-boosting process that will see the crop grown throughout the continent as a key food crop. The drive to proliferate pro·lif·er·ate v. To grow or multiply by rapidly producing new tissue, parts, cells, or offspring. the plant is based on cassava's remarkable properties as a major source of carbohydrate, it's remarkably cheap and easy to grow, thrives in stress conditions and resists pests and disease. After maize maize: see corn. , cassava is the second most important food in Africa. It is also used as an animal feed and has industrial applications. The Cassava Initiative now plans to make the plant easily and inexpensively accessible throughout Africa as a fast-track way of feeding Africa's needy. |
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