DAVAO CITY—Cassava production in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) continues to increase despite the ongoing terror crisis in Marawi City.
Cassava production has remained relatively untouched by the ongoing conflict, as most of the planting areas are outside the current conflict area in Marawi City.
The ARMM Department of Agriculture and Food (DAF) said that, while Lanao del Sur was a planting area for cassava, the other production areas are located in Maguindanao, and in the farther southwestern Mindanao island provinces of Basilan and Tawi-Tawi.
The DAF-ARMM said the increase in production output was due to the growing domestic industrial demand.
Citing Philippine Statistics Authority data, the ARMM came next only to Northern Mindanao, the top producer last year with 189,410 metric tons, or 32.1 percent of the national output. ARMM accounted for 16.9 percent, while behind it was Cagayan Valley with 16.6 percent of the country’s total output.
Production for industrial use may be affected this year, after a big portion of Lanao del Sur was abandoned to avoid the fallout from the fighting in Marawi City. The crisis in the city started on May 23, after the Islamic State-linked Maute Group swooped down and took control of Marawi City.
Dr. Albert Usman, regional cassava coordinator of the DAF-ARMM, said the cassava harvests in Lanao del Sur and Maguindanao were sold mainly for industrial consumption.
Cassava from Basilan and Tawi-Tawi is generally used for food, Usman said.
He said cassava is regarded as the third most important food crop in the tropics, after rice and corn, and the crop is valued by small-scale farmers for its tolerance to drought and infertile soil.
“The crop is essentially eco-efficient,” he said.
Usman said the DAF-ARMM, through its Gender and Development (GAD) unit, has conducted trainings on cassava-food processing in Talayan, Guindulungan and Sultan Mastura, towns in Maguindanao, on mostly women farmers.
“Such training could expand the livelihood opportunities for residents in rural communities and, at the same time, boost the production of the crop in the region,” he said.
“The training focuses on improving the lives of less-favored sectors of the rural population by means of utilizing available farm crops, like cassava, which is abundant in the region’s agricultural areas,” he added.
Participants were taught how to make cassava cake, cassava jelly, cassava puto taktak and other cassava-based products and delicacies. The program also handed out machinery and cassava graters.
The DAF-ARMM said the training program was given to 148 participants in the Maguindanao towns of Talayan, Guindulungan, as well as in Sultan Mastura. The training program is also currently implemented in Tawi-Tawi and Basilan.
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