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CASSAVA CULTIVATION AND STARCH PRODUCTION IN AN ANDEAN VILLAGE
PeteA Sotrbosch
Introduction
This paper is based on "A socio-economic study of cassava and cassava starch
production in an Andean village in Colcnbia", Mimeograph, CIAT, 1976. I
carried out this study as a trainee of CIAT in the period September 1975-
January 1976. At that time I was a B.Sc. student of the Department of Rural
Sociology of the Tropics and Subtropics at the Agricultural University in
Wageningen, The Netherlands. The purpose of this study was to describe the
processes of cassava cultivation and starch production. Being a budding
sociologist at that time, it certainly lacks analytical depth. 'Though my
knowledge and ideas have developed over time, I nevertheless preferred not
to include new views or comments, as this might introduce a bias into this
paper.
Some social and economic characteristics of the Cuatro Esquinas area
The village of Cuatro Esquinas is located in the occidental mountain-range
of the Andes, at a distance of about 35 km southwest from Popayan, the
capital of the Department of Cauca. It is one of the 33 sub-munipalities
of the municipality of El Tambo. This village is located about 7 km north
of Cuatro Esquinas. It is the only service centre in the municipality.
Services granted by El Tambo are: the market, held twice a week; a little
cattle market, held once a week; shopping services; municipal and judicial
institutions; a secondary school; a church; festivals and agrarian insti-
tutions like the Agrarian Credit Bank and the Federation of Coffee Growers.
The village of Cuatro Esquinas consists of no more than 44 households; only
CASSAVA CULTIVATION AND STARCH PRODUCTION IN AN ANDEAN VILLAGE
PeteA Sotrbosch
Introduction
This paper is based on "A socio-economic study of cassava and cassava starch
production in an Andean village in Colcnbia", Mimeograph, CIAT, 1976. I
carried out this study as a trainee of CIAT in the period September 1975-
January 1976. At that time I was a B.Sc. student of the Department of Rural
Sociology of the Tropics and Subtropics at the Agricultural University in
Wageningen, The Netherlands. The purpose of this study was to describe the
processes of cassava cultivation and starch production. Being a budding
sociologist at that time, it certainly lacks analytical depth. 'Though my
knowledge and ideas have developed over time, I nevertheless preferred not
to include new views or comments, as this might introduce a bias into this
paper.
Some social and economic characteristics of the Cuatro Esquinas area
The village of Cuatro Esquinas is located in the occidental mountain-range
of the Andes, at a distance of about 35 km southwest from Popayan, the
capital of the Department of Cauca. It is one of the 33 sub-munipalities
of the municipality of El Tambo. This village is located about 7 km north
of Cuatro Esquinas. It is the only service centre in the municipality.
Services granted by El Tambo are: the market, held twice a week; a little
cattle market, held once a week; shopping services; municipal and judicial
institutions; a secondary school; a church; festivals and agrarian insti-
tutions like the Agrarian Credit Bank and the Federation of Coffee Growers.
The village of Cuatro Esquinas consists of no more than 44 households; only
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13 households possess land, the other 31 households earn their living mainly
by trading and wage labour. Around the village, are found the farms, scat-
tered in the mountains. Most farms are not very accessible. The most impor-
tant means of transportation are horses and males.
The area can be characterized by having a "minifundio" structure. The major-
ity of the farmers are small landowners. Moreover, the number of landless
labourers is very large, which means a cheap supply of labour. Daywages
range between $20 and $25. -
Not only regarding the location of the farms, but also.from a social point
of view the area is atomized. Individualism prevails. Everybody goes his
own way without bothering other people. The negative consequence of this
is that the farmers hardly discuss their mutual problems. This situation
is doubly serious, as front the part of the Agrarian institutions in El
Tambo the interest to help the farmers in this isolated area by means of
extension is minima.
Cuatro Esquinas is located in a temperature zone. The altitude is about
1300 meters. Though variable, we may discern two rainy seasons: February
through May and September through December.
The two most important cash crops are cassava an coffee. In addition,
plaintains, bananas, maize, beans and sugar-cane are cultivated.
Cassava in historical perspective
People started to grow cassava as a cash crop in the middle of the forties.
Before that time coffee, and, especially, sugar-cane were the main cash
/One US dollar is about $33 (Colombian pesos) January, 1976.
-3-
crops. The latter crop was used for the production of "panela" -pieces of raw,
unrefined sugar- in small-scale sugarmills.
Those who started to cultivate cassava in big quantities were outsiders, main-
ly people from the Departments of Valle del Cauca and Narifio. They also intro-
duced the use of oxen for the preparation of the land, which was formerly done
by hand.
Initially only a small part of the native population adopted the cultivation
of cassava as a cash crop. This cassava was transported by mule to El Tambo,
sold to traders and put on fresh markets in Popayan and Call. The majority
continued to grow cassava mainly for family needs.
Between 1955 and 1965 however many farmers cut down their sugar-cane and
started to cultivate cassava instead. Besides the small profitability of
"panela" production, which may have been due to expanding cane production in
Valle del Cauca two other factors explain this transition from sugar-cane
to cassava. The most important reason has been the introduction of small-
scale starch factories in the middle of the fifties. In the second place
must be mentioned the construction of the road between El Tambo and Cuatro
Esquinas in 1965. The latter consisted only of a widening of the muletrack,
but nevertheless made the area accessible for jeeps, buses and trucks, thus
allowing easier access to cassava and starch markets.
The small-scale starch factories
It has indeed been in the decade after the construction of the road that the
majority of the 24 factories which now exist in the sub-municipality of Cua-
tro Esquinas have been built. Factories like these already existed in Pal-
mira, located in the Department of Valle del Cauca and near Mondcno, a
village located in the North of Cauca. When the capacity of the factories
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exceeded cassava production in the zone, factory owners had to look for other
markets to buy their cassava, among others the Cuatro Esquinas area. Others
decided to move elsewhere and started to build factories in the latter area.
When the economic profitability became clear some native people also.took
over their example.
The starch factories soon became a very important market for cassava. The
constant demand for cassava considerably stimulated its production and the
area planted with cassava was quickly expanded. Culturally the factories
broadenend the frame of reference of the farmers and caused a rapid transition
from a mainly subsistence towards a market orientation of cassava culti-
vation. As we shall see this process did not involve a major change in agri-
cultural practices. Cassava continued to be cultivated in a traditional. way.
Regarding the technology used for the extraction of starch two different types
of factories can be discerned although both are relatively small-scale opera-
tions. In the most simple type of factory the cassava is peeled, washed and
rasped, and then strained by hand in a cloth that has been tightened at a
wooden framework above a sedimentation tank. Water is continuously added
The maximum processing capacity of this manual type of factory is 600 kg of
cassava per day.
In the mechanical type of factory the cassava is strained in a centrifuge-
like machine, which slowly rotates on a horizontal axis. This machine is
driven by a little petrol engine. In these factories a maximum of 1200 kg
of cassava can be processed per day. However, because of shortage of cas-
sava, in the research period even the mechanical factories did not process
more than 600 to 750 kg of cassava per day.
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In dry seasons the lack of a sufficient water supply may limit starch produc-
tion in both types of factories.
-The starch factories are not very labour intensive, though on a regional scale
it is probably the most labour intensive form of starch production. The most
labour intensive activity is the peeling of cassava. This is done manually,
mostly by female family labour, in fewer cases by hired women and girls. It
takes one person one and a half to two hours to peel a 75 kg sack of cassava.
All the other production activities are carried out by one to two persons, in
most cases a hired labourer. He is in charge of the washing, rasping, strain-
ing, sedimentation, cleaning, fermenting, drying, pulverizing and packing
processes.
Starch production is regarded as the most profitable economic activity within
the area. As 25% of the fresh cassava is converted into starch, a maximun of
150 kg of starch per day can be produced in the manual starch factories, where-
as in mechanical factories this maximun is 300 kg of starch./ The greater
production capacity of the latter is however largely negated by the scarcity
of cassava. I estimated that during the research period the average amount of
starch produced- per day in both types of factories was about 100 kg. As net
profits are $274 per 37.5 kg of starch,2/ this relatively low production
nevertheless means a daily income of about $730 for the factory owner.
/ n all 8 factories which were included in my study, they gave me exactly
the same figure of 25%.
SSee for a benefit-cost calculation of starch production my mimeograph "A
socio-economic study of cassava and cassava starch production in an Andean
village in Colombia", CIAT, 1976, p.72.
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Assuming that on an average only 20 of the 24 factories are producing starch
and that a factory is producing 500 kg weekly, I estimate that the total weekly
production of these 24 factories will be about ten tons of starch. Respectively
about 33% and 11% of the total week production is bought by two intermediate
traders who live in the village. They buy the starch frma the factory owners
for $240 per 12,5 kg and sell to trucker-buyers for 250 per 12,5 kg. The other
56% of the weekly production is bought directly frcm factory owners by these
truckers-buyers for $240 per 12,5 kg. Only six trucker-buyers are operating
in the area. They come from Popayan (2) Monodomo, Call (2) and Palmira and
also sell the starch in Popayan, Call, Palmira and even in Bogota to wholesalers,
retailers, grocer's shops and bakeries. Their profits are large: selling prices
per 12.5 kg of starch are $270 in Popayan, $280 in Cali and Palmira, and $310
in Bogota. They often lend money, with or without interest to the factory
owners in order to try to insure themselves of a sufficient amount of starch.
Competition among them is strong. Sometimes the two largest trucker-buyers paid
$5 to $10 more than the others to be able to buy a truck-load fall of starch.
The cultivation of cassava
Cassava is mainly found on small plots, with most plots ranging between 0.5
and 2.0 hectares.
Regarding land-tenancy it is striking that much cassava is cultivated by share
2/
croppers on a cost share lease basis.- This may result from the fact
2/ In my sample of 27 farmers, 16 farmers and landowners, 9 farmers are share-
croppers and two farmers are tenants. Sharecropping seems to be a common
characteristic of cassava production in Colcmbia. Rafael Orlando Diaz D.
and Per Pinstrup-Andersen found that 29% of the 283 cassava farmers'they
visited were sharecroppers ("Descripci6n agro-econ&mica del process de
producci6n de yuca en Colombia", CIAT, 1977, p. B-13). This fact is not
unimportant as it may not be unreasonable to hypothesize that sharecropping
is negatively correlated'with the adoption of new technology.
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that cassava is the only annual cash crop in the area. For the many landless
labourers sharecropping is one of the few possibilities to increase their
income. Moreover, as land is scarce and larger landowners are not very will-
ing to lease land, also for landowners sharecropping is one of the most feasible
3/
ways to expand their cassava production.-
After the fallow period brush and woodland are cut down with "machetes". Ac-
cording to the farmers the shortening of the fallow period has decreased soil
quality considerably. Ten years ago farmers used to leave their lands as
fallow for five to six years. At the xmnent the .fallow period is no more than
three years. They also say that his is one of the main reasons of the decrease
in yields. Before yields were three to four times as large as at. the moment.
After this initial manual land clearing the soil is ploughed with oxen. The
majority of the farmers grow three consecutive crops of cassava in the same
fields. Hardly any farmers practice crop rotation. Some plough the soil with
oxen for every crop, other plow only for the first crop. In the latter case
they prepare the land manually for the second and third crop. Mechanical land
preparation is not possible because of the inaccessibly of the fields, the
often steep slopes and the usually rough surface of the fields. Formerly
farmers used to plant in September. This habit was abandoned after the starch
factories began to be the major market for cassava. These created a constant
demand for cassava during the whole year. This meant that farmers had to
spread the sowing dates of cassava in order to meet the daily cassava needs
of the starch factories. Nevertheless much cassava is still planted in
September, preferably with the new moon as this has according to the farmers
/ Of our 9 sharecroppers 4 of them are landowners.
-8-
a positive influence on its growth.
Years ago farmers used to intercrop cassava much more than at present. The
main reason for this is that as cassava became more and more important as a
cash crop, especially during recent years when prices went up considerably,
the intercrops started to seriously compete for income.!/ The most feelings
common intercropping systems are: cassava-plaintain; cassava-maize; cassava-
beans and cassava-maize-beans. Most farmers weed three times during the
growing cycle, at about two weeks and three and six months after the sowing
date. The weedings are mostly performed by hired day labourers, in same cases
by contract.
The use of chemical technology is limited to the application of insecticies,
mainly against ants.
Because of several personal, and economic. reasons herbicides are not used:
a) Present day wages of $20 make a substitution of chemical for manual weed
control highly unlikely; b) The farmers do not know if chemical weed control
has an impact on yields; c) If they do believe that herbicide use increases
production, they do not know in which measure it increases production; d)
Samo farmers think that the application of herbicides may decrease production
instead of increasing it, as they believe that herbicides damage the quality
of the soil; e) The farmers do not know how to apply herbicides properly.
Similar reasons also exist for the non-use of fertilizers: a) Traditionally
neither their grandfathers nor their fathers used fertilizer; b) Lack of ca-
pital; c) Feelings of insecurity: farmers do not know how far the application
4/ Prices of a 150 kg load of cassava were: $150 in 1973, $280 in November
1974, $325 in February 1975, $400 in the period July 1975-January 1976.
-9-
of fertilizers increases yields; d) Farmers lack the knowledge. how to apply
fertilizers properly.
On the other hand sate factors which are related to the production of starch
appeared to be prohibitive for the application of fertilizers: a) Farmers,
but especially the factory owners think that the application of fertilizers
diminishes the amount of starch of the tuber; b) Also they think that the
starch weighs less if fertilizers are used; c) Fertilizer use decreases the
quality of the starch, as during the sedimentation process the starch does not
separate well from the other elements of the tuber.'
This negative altitude towards the use of fertilizers is based on experience
with fertilized cassava that has been bought near El Tambo scme years ago.
Since that tine the producers of starch do not buy fertilized cassava, as it
decreases both the total amount of starch as well as the quality of the starch,
and therefore their income.
In the Cuatro Esquinas area cassava has a growing cycle of one year. Only
in case of an urgent cash need farmers sell their cassava a few month earlier
when it is still on the field. The opposite, postponing the harvest, also
happens sometimes, which has a saving function for the farmers.
Sometimes the cassava is harvested by hired labourers. However, after the
starch factories began to be the major market for cassava selling the cassa-
va to the factory owners when it is still on the field became the most common
way of harvesting. Though farmers know that it may be more profitable to
harvest the crop themselves, they nevertheless prefer to sell their cassava
when it is still on the field. This saves the costs and time for harvesting,
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packing and transportation, which can be used alternatively. Moreover the
farmer does not have to worry whether or not the harvest is done carefully,
as often harvesters leave tubers in the ground. The factory owner harvests
each day only the amount needed for his factory. Only plots which are rela-
tively small and located for away from the factory are harvested at one time.
This contrasts with earlier years when more cassava was sold to traders and
therefore harvested at one time.
Besides the small amount of cassava that is used for home consumption nearly
all the cassava is sold to the starch factories.. In earlier years when the
local demand of the factories was less than at the moment, a substantial
amount was sold to traders and put on markets elsewhere, mainly Popaygn and
Call. Another portion was bought by starch factories from Mondomo and Palmi-
ra. Now that cassava is also scarce in the latter area, only very little
reaches outside markets.
Credit facilities are limited. In my sample of 27 farmers only 4 of them
received credit from the Agrarian Credit Bank. Others either do not need
credit, are not credit worthy, or do not want an institutional loan. The
Agrarian Credit Bank does not have a good reputation among farmers. Because
ot its red-tape it often takes two to three months before one gets his loan.
Moreover farmers have to travel three times to El Tambo to arrange the loan,
which means extra expenses and a loss of time. It is very difficult to get
an exact'idea of how many farmers receive credit frcm informal sources, as
most people are not very willing to talk about this topic. Some farmers
receive credit from friends or relatives, but did not say how much and for
which purposes. Factory owners never lend money to cassava farmers. Strange
- 11-
enough factory owners often borrow part of their working capital fran the
traders in starch.
Present problems in cassava cultivation
The major problem in the area is the growing scarcity of cassava. On the one
hand the demand of the starch factories for cassava starts to exceed the supply
of raw material. On the other hand this scarcity is due to a decrease in
cassava yields. This is caused by two factors:the frog skin root disease
and the deterioration of soil fertility.
Near Cuatro Esquinas the frog skin root disease is not yet a problem. But
in a warmer zone called El Puente, located about a half hour's drive south
from Cuatro Esquinas, this disease seriously affects yields. In this area
some of our 24 starch factories are located. Another consequence of this
disease is that farmers who found affected plants on their fields abstain
from sowing these fields again with cassava. So the cassava area becomes
less. Also non-affected plants coming fran a field in which even a few di-
seased plants were found are not wanted as planting material. This results
in a scarcity of planting material, which in its turn means that at the
moment planting material for the first crop has to be bought, whereas former-
ly it was given by neighbours, relatives or friends.
An increase of production by an expansion of the cassava area seems not
very likely. There is very little uncultivated land left, most farmers
lack resources to buy land and opportunities to rent land are hardly
existent.
On the other hand an increase of production per hectare seems also difficult
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to achieve.
The adoption of fertilizer use is out of the question as long as starch produ-
cers refuse to buy fertilized cassava. But even if they accepted fertilized
cassava, various constraints would hamper the adoption of fertilizer use and
other agricultural productivity raising activities.
The major social constraint is a lack of capital of most farmers. Intitu-
tional constraints are the non-availability of institutional credit for most
farmers and the ccnplete absence of technical assistance.
As personal constraints of the farmers themselves must be mentioned their
traditional outlook on agriculture, feelings of uncertainty regarding the
profitability of the adoption of productivity raising agricultural practices,
lack of knowledge and last but not least their distrust towards governmental
or semi-governmental agrarian institutions.
So yields continue to decrease and the area impoverishes. Nevertheless most
farmers view this reality as what will be,will-be. Given the above mentioned cons -
traints varieties with a high content of starch might certainly play an impor-
tant role in improving the "position of both farmer and starch producer. How-
ever, also probably cheap and simple agricultural productivity raising practices
would have to be introduced to tackle the problems of soil fertility and de-
creasing yields. Or perhaps better said: These practices should introduce
themselves as it might very well be that this technology in these types of
areas should not count on the help of credit or extension services.
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