From waste to wealth: The innovation turning cassava peels into a growing new industry

To make garri, cassava roots have to be peeled. Traditionally, the peels have been dumped in huge heaps and burned, or allowed to rot — turning them into an environmental hazard, as toxic compounds in the raw peels leached into waterways.

Some producers attempted to dry the peels in the open air for use as a livestock feed, but this process takes 3-5 days, and the peels are susceptible to contamination by fungal toxins, especially in the wet season.

In 2015, Acho Okike and other researchers at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) and the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA) developed a technique for processing wet cassava peels into a high-quality, safe, nutritious livestock feed within eight hours — transforming three tonnes of wet peel into one tonne of dried cassava peel mash. . . .

Read the original article.