Cassava is important not only as a food crop, but also as a major source of income for households. As a food crop, cassava grows well in poor soils with limited labor requirements. It provides food security during conflicts when the invader cannot easily destroy or remove the crop, since it conveniently grows underground.
COST ESTIMATION FOR PLANTING ONE HECTARE
Land clearing is done around January/February period cost 15,000 to 25,000 depending on the locations After land clearing, there will be tilling and ridge-making by tractor or by hand, but a tractor will be much better, and it will cost around $30,000 to 40,000 depending on the locations, followed by planting.
How to plant cassava
Cassava is planting by stem cutting with the row of 1to 1.5m apart, and the plants 1m apart. With this spacing, there are between 7,000 and 10,000 cassava plants per hectare, and 50 bundles of cassava stems are needed per hectare. Therefore, if cassava is planted at the right density, the yield is high.
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Other stages include herbicide spraying, and 6 liters of herbicide are needed for 1 hectare of cassava farm, which costs around 75,000 for proper planting at 1 meter spacing.
Harvesting
It takes up to 9-12months to reach maturity stages depending on the species. Harvesting is done by hand by uprooting the root from the ground and cutting the tubers. If no further processes are involved because of stress and time consumption, some farmers might decide to sell immediately after they harvest.
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Return on investment
Cassava farming has been a profitable business because an hectare of land yields approximately 20 tons, and the cost of production is as follows:
Land clearing: 25000
40,000 is spent on tilling and ridge-building.
50 bundles of stems are to be planted 700 per bundle, depending on varieties 35000
Herbicide spraying costs 75000
The cost of producing one hectare is 175,000.
Within 9 to 12 months, one hectare of land yields approximately 20 tons, with one ton selling for 22,000 per ton, depending on location. 20*22000=440,000
So a return/profit of 265,000 is acquired on 1 hectare within a short period of time.
