CassavaUpgrade - Utlization of cassava by-products

In CassavaUpgrade project, cassava by-products including leaves, stems, rhizome, and peel will be upgraded for food and bio-fuel in order to provide a holistic approach for sustainable bio-based economy and global food security. Postharvest by-products of cassava will be analyzed and suitable approaches will be adopted to efficiently utilize all parts of the plants either for food or fuel. Inefficient cassava peeling will be improved to reduce peeling losses. Innovative approaches will be developed to improve cassava peeling process and efficiently using cassava leaves protein as food.

The results of the proposed project will provide an invaluable knowledge necessary for the utilization of cassava leaves as a sustainable protein source for human diet. The results will cover the knowledge for the whole supply chain, starting from cassava leave protein extraction, detoxification, pretreatment and process techniques, novel/modified traditional food development, consumer acceptability and its economical and safety evaluation as human food. Conclusively, this will provide an important step to fulfill the challenges of future utilization of cassava leave as a protein source.

After successfully achieving the above mentioned goals, cassava leaves will offer an enormous source of safe and nutritionally balanced food for a vast majority of population. Detoxified cassava leaves consumption will provide an alternative solution to overcome the ever increasing global protein demand, especially in the developing regions. Moreover, it will address major problems related to postharvest loss during cassava root peeling and environmental problems.