The Donald Danforth Plant Science Center is making major improvements in the agriculture of cassava, a crop that forms a major part of the diet for many people in Africa. The St. Louis-based plant science center has scientists from more than 20 countries on its research campus working on cassava, including Uzo Ihemere from Nigeria.
“Cassava is a very important crop in Nigeria. People who are growing it eat it three times a day because it is an easy crop to plant and easy to maintain,” Ihemere said.
“But it has deficiencies. If you depend on it you will be malnourished, because it has little protein.”
Scientists at the Danforth Center’s state-of-the-art facility in Olivette are trying to increase, starch, iron, carotene and zinc in the crop to add nutritional value.
“Most people think of people as dying from starvation, but they die from malnutrition,” said Karla Goldstein, vice president of Public and Government Affairs for the Danforth Center.
Ihemere has seen major improvements with his goal to increase the amount of iron in the crop.
“We did that by incorporating a gene from algae that was cloned in our lab,” Ihemere said.
Ihemere and his colleagues used an algal gene, which transports iron from the soil, to genetically modify cassava.
Each aspect of improving cassava has seen confirmed improvement in experimental studies.
“We will now move to the second phase where all these different characteristics will be put in one plant to make a ‘super-cassava,’” Ihemere said.
The official name for the enhanced cassava is “biocassava plus.”
Work is also being done in St. Louis to increase the short shelf life of the crop, which must be processed within days of harvesting. Scientists at the Danforth Center are also finding ways to fight Cassava Mosaic Disease, which infects the crop and makes it useless when it is ready to be harvested.
Cassava, while it naturally lacks an abundance of nutritional value, is incredibly practical. With the trend of global warming, cassava can withstand drought better than corn and other important crops. Cassava also does not need fertile soil to grow, and it is easily replanted by burying the stakes of crop under the soil.
The crop also has many varieties that farmers in particular African countries prefer.
“There are so many different varieties of cassava, and they respond differently. We worked with the ones that are available to us,” Ihemere said.
“There are particular varieties that they like in Nigeria, Kenya and Uganda, so we are focusing on different cassava varieties in different countries.”
Working to improve cassava has proven to be very rewarding for Ihemere, and it has special value to him as a Nigerian.
“When I came [to the United States] I didn’t see home for a long time, but the fact that I’m working on an African crop has closed the gap for me,” Ihemere said. “I feel like I am touching home a little bit.”
Ihemere’s wife, Nne Ihemere, makes sure that they make it back to Nigeria more often now.
Ihemere initially moved to the United States to pursue his doctoral degree in Horticulture and Crop Science at Ohio State University. Previously he received his undergraduate degree from the University of Nigeria.
Ihemere moved to St. Louis two years ago to begin work at the Danforth Center on enhancing the properties of cassava. He began working with the crop at Ohio State doing research on increasing the amount of starch in the crop.
While Ihemere and his colleagues labor over cassava in a lab in St. Louis County, the destination for their research are the fields, markets and kitchens of Africa.
Cassava is eaten in Africa in many forms. It can be prepared like mashed potatoes, cereal, chips, grits and can be eaten with soup. In the U.S., cassava is used for tapioca.
“There are so many things you can do with cassava. It’s inexhaustible,” Ihemere said. “Also it’s an economic crop. With cassava, the root is in the soil, and you can sell the roots or process it and still make money.”
