An assessment of post-harvest handling practices and food losses in a maize-based farming system in semi-arid areas of Central and Northern Tanzania was carried out in 2012. Seventeen crops were mostly cultivated by the farmers in the surveyed areas; maize (32%), sunflower (16%) and pigeon peas (12%) were the most cultivated while maize was the most stored. There are at least 7 months between two harvest seasons of each crop; while farmers sold the crops soon after harvest to cater for household expenditure (54%) and school fees (38%), the market prices increased significantly (P ≤ 0.05) within six months of storage. Most processing activities (winnowing, dehulling, drying, sorting and shelling) were carried out manually, almost entirely by women, but mechanized processing for maize, sunflower, millet, and sorghum were commonly practiced. Quantitative post-harvest losses of economic importance occur in the field (15%); during processing (13–20%), and during storage (15–25%). The main storage pests responsible for the losses are larger grain borers (Prostephanus truncatus), grain weevils (Sitophilus granarius) and, the lesser grain borer (Rhyzopertha dominica). Most of the farmers considered changes in weather (40%), field damage (33%), and storage pests (16%) as the three most important factors causing poor crop yields and aggravating food losses. However, survey results suggest that the farmers' poor knowledge and skills on post-harvest management are largely responsible for the food losses. 77% of the surveyed farmers reported inadequate household foods and 41% received food aid during the previous year. Increasing farmers' technical know-how on adaptation of the farming systems to climate variability, and training on post-harvest management could reduce food losses, and improve poverty and household food security

Cassava is a significant food security and industrial crop, contributing as food, feed and industrial biomass in Africa, Asia and South America. Breeding efforts have led to the development of cassava variants having desirable traits such as increased root, flour, and starch yield, reduced toxicity, reduced pest/disease susceptibility and improved nutrient contents. Prominent among those breeding efforts is the development of colored-flesh cassava variants, especially biofortified yellow-fleshed ones, with increased pro-vitamin A carotenoids, compared to the white-flesh variants. The concept of sustainability in adoption of biofortified yellow-flesh cassava and its products cannot be fully grasped without some detailed information on its properties and how these variants compare to those of the white-flesh cassava. Flour and starch are highly profitable food products derived from cassava. Cassava roots can be visually distinguished based on flesh color and other physical properties, just as their flours and starches can be differentiated by their macro- and micro-properties. The few subtle differences that exist between cassava variants are identified and exploited by consumers and industry. Although white-flesh variants are still widely cultivated, value addition offered by biofortified yellow-flesh variants may strengthen acceptance and widespread cultivation among farmers, and, possibly, cultivation of biofortified yellow-flesh variants may outpace that of white-flesh variants in the future. This review compares properties of cassava root, flour, and starch from white-flesh and biofortified yellow-flesh variants. It also states the factors affecting the chemical, functional, and physicochemical properties; relationships between the physicochemical and functional properties; effects of processing on the nutritional properties; and practical considerations for sustaining adoption of the biofortified yellow-flesh cassava.

Food safety and compliance with international standards is a major challenging to achieve food security in sub-Saharan Africa. The present study evaluated the occurrence of Aspergillus flavus, Fusarium spp., and related fungi, and resultant aflatoxins and fumonsins in dried cassava and maize samples from various markets and villages in Tanzania and Congo. The relationship between mycotoxins and length of storage period was also elucidated. The levels of aflatoxin B₁ varied from 0.3 to 4.4 ppb in cassava chips and flour, and from 0.1 to 13.0 ppb in stored cassava samples, with relatively high levels of contamination found in cassava stored for 4 months. Maize kernels showed high aflatoxin concentrations, with means ranging from 0.04 to 120 ppb. On maize, the dominant mycoflora were Aspergillus spp. (3.3%–39.5%) and Fusarium spp. (42%–70.5%), potentially causing serious health risks to consumers of these products. Low levels of fumonisin ranging from 0 to 0.07 ppm were found in cassava chips and flour with mean values ranging from 0.001 to 0.006 ppm. Maize recorded relatively higher fumonisin levels ranging from 0.02 to 9.4 ppm, indicating that maize is potentially a more serious risk to consumer health than cassava. This needs to be taken into account when developing strategies to reduce toxin contamination and improve health of populations. Aflatoxin in maize is a chronic problem in the two countries surveyed, limiting marketability and income. Nevertheless the collected cassava samples are also prone to aflatoxin contamination, but not fumonisin contamination.

Dried cassava products are perceived as one of the potential sources of mycotoxin ingestion in human foods. Processing either contributes to the reduction of toxins or further exposes products to contamination by microorganisms that release metabolic toxins into the products. Thus, the prevalence of microbial metabolites in 373 processed cassava products was investigated in Nigeria. With the use of liquid chromatography tandem-mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) for the constituent analysis, a few major mycotoxins (aflatoxin B₁ and G₁, fumonisin B₁ and B₂, and zearalenone) regulated in food crops by the Commission of the European Union were found at concentrations which are toxicologically acceptable in many other crops. Some bioactive compounds were detected at low concentrations in the cassava products. Therefore, the exposure of cassava consumers in Nigeria to regulated mycotoxins was estimated to be minimal. The results provide useful information regarding the probable safety of cassava products in Nigeria.

The scourge of poverty, including its correlates, has been witnessing an incremental sequence over the years in Nigeria despite the natural endowment of the country. Efforts by various stakeholders to address this problem have not yielded tangible results. Using cross-sectional data collected in 2015 on 775 cassava farmers spread across four geographical zones, this study estimates multidimensional poverty of cassava producers in Nigeria. This is to determine the factors responsible for poverty increase and contribution(s) of these factors to poverty. The study found that about 74% of the respondents were multidimensionally poor. Assets and public/housing utility were the main contributors to aggregate multidimensional poverty index (MPI), while education and health contributed most to povertyreduction. The results also showed major contributing indicators to MPI to be formal employment, school enrolment, years of schooling, frequency of hospital visits, and household assets’ ownership. The South-eastzone of Nigeria had the highest adjusted headcount of poverty among cassava producers. The estimated coefficient of age, farming experience, years of schooling, household size, and access to informal credit were significant determinants of poverty in the study area. In conclusion, the results suggest that although Nigeria is a federation of more than 30 states that continue to rely on nation-wide policy initiatives of the central government, policies on cassava aiming to lift millions of people out of poverty should instead vary according to the peculiar poverty dimensions of each federation unit. We suggest reform in the agriculture sector that will emphasize facilitation and access to incentives (credits, training, extension, cooperate system, etc.) by younger farmers to engage in modern cassava farming, thereby, enhancing the chances of rural cassava growers to move out of poverty.