Presently, small farmas in Nigeria are commercially oriented as more chan 61 % of the f."me[s sell <heir cassava output compared to 45% 15 years ago. This suggests that presently. small farmers seem to respond to the urban and rural demand for traditional cas5ava-based food products namely gari. There is room [0 expand cassava beyond its present production levels and utilization in Nigeria. However. policy support is nceded [0 stimulate diversification and expansion in utilization of cassava imo alternative products such as ethanol, starch.
flour. and so on. Such poliey support has to be sustained and transcend subsequent changes in government . Policy can only be sustained as producers and processors organize. The organized private seCtor producer and processo r organizations are the only institution s that can continue to shape agricultural policies and defend their interest in me cassava subsectOr beyond the tenure of governments. T his basel ine re port provides infonnation on the status of cassava production in the sourheast and south-south states of Nigeria. However the CEDP should co ntin ue to track several factors in its development process. These include area under improved cassava varieties , number offarm families adopting improved cassava, area under sustainable production systems, number of cuttings distributed. number of technologies introduced. productivity of cassava , and dissemination of improved CMD varieties. From time to lirn~. basic infor-
mation may have (0 be collected from the beneficiaries at <he field level and compared wi<h the baseline information in this document. Information such as cassava fresh root yield
and use of improved CMD varieties may be needed to assess the productivity ofland and labor and the adoption of improved CMD-resiSlant varieties.
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