Wonders of Cassava

Have you eaten cassava? Maybe you answer yes or no, but definitely cassava is part of your life. 

Wondering why? Because most of the products you are using every day is made or partly made of cassava.

Cassava or balanghoy in Bisayan dialect is grown anywhere in the Philippines. 

It is one of the food sources for Filipinos either cooked steamed or in the form of value adding cassava food products such as suman, pitchi-pitchi, cakes and other delicacies. 

But do you know that aside from being a food source, cassava is an ingredient of various products you are using almost every day whether you are in the house, office or anywhere else.

For the girls, every time you are going to use cosmetics and beauty products, you are using cassava since it is one of the ingredients of manufacturing those products.

As for the drink lovers, you are gulping cassava since it is one of the ingredients in producing liquor. Cassava is also used as sweetener since it is used to make glucose, fructose, and lactose and as a substitute for sucrose in making beverages, jams and canned fruit drinks.

Amazingly, even the suits you are using had cassava. Cassava is used in yarn making and material planting for textile manufacturing. 

When you go shopping, the packaging of your favorite products is made up cassava. Cassava starch is combined with bio-degradable polymer to produce packaging materials.

In the kitchen, when you are using monosodium glutamate in your menu there is cassava, since it is prime ingredient in making MSG. Cassava is also widely used in food production such as noodles and seasoning sauces.

When you feel ill and going to take medicine, you are taking in cassava. Cassava is mixed with active pharmaceutical materials to make capsules and tablets.  

Even in building your house, it plays a vital role since good quality glue for plywood binding is made from cassava.

In helping your child in making their assignments and or in the office, the glue you are using is made from cassava. 

In your means of livelihood, when you are raising livestock, poultry or engaged in fishing industry, you are using cassava since it is the main ingredient for animal and aqua feeds.

In the field of transportation or industries, cassava is there. Cassava is used to produce bio-ethanol, an alternative to fuel.

This is just few of the long list of cassava utilization. To sum it up, cassava industry offers wide array of opportunities.

So if you are thinking of what particular crop to plant, consider planting cassava, indeed it is a promising industry.

Plant and grow cassava, rich source of food, feeds and bio-energy. (Aurelius P. Arais/DA- CARAGA)

-=###=-