Cassava peels which is a by-product derived from the processing of cassava either into starch, cassava flour or garri, has always been discarded in large heaps to rot or set on fire over the years, because little research was directed to the possibility of using these wastes as feeding-stuff for livestock until recent time.
A 100kg of processed cassava roots gives 10-15kg of peels as by-product which usually has a higher concentration of poisonous cyanogenic glucosides than the parenchyma (pulp), thus making the peels unsuitable as animal feed.
Recent research has shown that cassava peels can be modified to make a feed material, and an even better substitute for maize. This will allow livestock farmers to maximize their profits and provide income to cassava farmers by using crop-waste as a by-product.
AfDB, Others Commission Prototype Machine for Cassava Peel Processing
The inclusion level and utilization of the cassava peels in the livestock feed depends on the processing methods applied to reduce the cyanide content and those methods includes boiling, sun drying, oven drying, fermentation, grating and sun drying, freezing, ensiling, parboiling and sun drying
Researchers from International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) and the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA), worked in turning fresh peels into High Quality Cassava Peel (HQCP) through grating, dehydrating and drying of wet cassava peels to a moisture content of about 10-12 per cent for better utilization and storage for about six months.
IITA, GIAE, GIZ Collaborate to Upscale Maize, Cassava Production
Various research results from the IITA and other researchers showed that the HQCP is a perfect substitute for maize in the composition of animal feeds, adding that its nutritional value as energy source is close to maize and that its usage will save cost and make maize available for human consumption.
