In contrast, Africa does not export much cassava because production is almost entirely consumed as food. Cassava provides a major source of calories for poor families, because of its high starch content. With minimum maintenance, the farmers can dig up the starchy root of the cassava and eat it 6 months to 3 years after planting. Thus, people can cultivate cassava during times of war or natural disaster when no other food is available. In Africa, people also eat the leaves of the cassava as a green vegetable, which provide a cheap and rich source of protein and vitamins A and B. In Southeast Asia and Latin America, cassava has also taken on an economic role.
Various industries use it as a binding agent, because it is an inexpensive source of starch.
In Africa, cassava is beginning to be used in partial substitution for wheat flour, thus providing income to resource-poor farmers and saving foreign exchange for national governments. This represents about 5.5 percent of the total commodity investment. IITA has discovered spontaneous polyploids in cassava, which are characterized by enormous vigor and variation in form and structure. IITA has also introduced to Africa a wider genetic base for cassava improvement, focusing on materials with resistance to mites, mealybugs, cassava bacterial blight, tolerance to drought, low cyanogen potential, and good cooking quality. It has assisted with identifying, evaluating, and shipping natural enemies to control the cassava mealybug and cassava green mite.