Cassava
Cassava is the drought-hardy tropical tuber that feeds much of the tropics when other crops fail. A woody shrub storing starch in its roots, it shrugs off heat and poor soil and waits out dry spells, which is why it is a food-security anchor across Africa, led by Nigeria.
How it grows
Cassava is a root that swells below ground; only the leafy top shows above the soil.
What it’s worth to grow
Farm-gate value = the price farmers are paid per kilogram (FAOSTAT producer prices, median of 288 positive country-year observations spanning 2018–2024). It tracks how costly and labour-intensive a crop is to grow — almonds and vanilla command a premium; potatoes and cereals are cheap staples.
Where Earth's climate suits cassava
Climatic suitability only — scored for every 0.5° of the planet from this crop's temperature and rainfall tolerances (FAO EcoCrop) on AgroClim 1991–2025 normals (AgERA5 temperature, CHIRPS/ERA5 rainfall). It shows where the rain-fed climate permits the crop, not where it is grown today; irrigation lets many crops thrive in drier country than the map suggests (California, Egypt, the Indus and Nile).
Who grows it — and where the climate merely allows it
The climate where it grows
— mean monthly temperature ▍ monthly rainfall — averaged over the actual growing areas (the suitable cells) inside each country, so it reflects where the crop is really grown, not the national average. AgroClim 1991–2025 normals. The 🌧 badge is the last 3 months’ rainfall as a percentage of the 1991–2020 CHIRPS normal (through 2025-12) — the current drought/deluge signal.
Climate envelope · FAO EcoCrop
Deep bar = optimal range; pale bar = absolute tolerance. Beyond the pale bar the crop fails. Latitude tolerance ±30° · soil pH 4–9.
Growing calendar & hazards
Planted from stem cuttings, it grows for 8–24 months and can be left in the ground and harvested as needed — a living store against hunger.
- Cold. Any frost kills it; growth stops in cool weather, limiting it to warm climates.
- Disease. Cassava mosaic and brown-streak viruses cause heavy losses in Africa.
- Cyanide in drought. Bitter varieties need careful processing to remove cyanogens, more so under stress.