Divisi
How to grow Cassava
Manihot esculenta · Euphorbiaceae
Photo: Picho Ceballos · CC0
Cassava is a hardy, woody shrub grown for its fat, starchy roots — a food that grows where little else will. Unlike most crops, you plant it not from seed but from cut pieces of stem (cuttings, or 'stakes'), so every plant is a copy of its mother — which is why choosing healthy, disease-free stems is the single most important thing you do all season. Cassava shrugs off drought and poor soil, and its roots can be left in the ground for months and dug as you need them, like a living store. It comes in sweet and bitter types: sweet cassava is safe with normal cooking, but bitter cassava carries much more natural cyanide (a poison) and must be fully processed — peeled, grated, soaked and dried — before it is safe to eat.
David Monniaux · CC BY-SA 3.0 
Vijayanrajapuram · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Days to maturity
- 240–730 days
- Row spacing
- 100 cm
- Plant spacing in the row
- 100 cm
- Sowing depth
- 5–10 cm
These are general figures for the crop, compiled from published agronomic references including FAO and CABI. The right choice for your field depends on your soil, rainfall and the yield you are aiming for.
Will cassava actually do well on your land? Check your field against every crop in the catalogue — free, no signup. Run the free crop check →
Other names for Cassava
maniok · cassava · manioc · yuca · gbaguda · chinangwa · mandioca · mufarinya · mfarinya · muhogo · ege
Working in buckets, bags or paces? The farming glossary turns the measures growers actually use into kilograms and hectares — what a 20 litre bucket of each crop really weighs, and how to size a field by walking it — alongside the Shona, Swahili, Ndebele and Yoruba words used in the field. Open the glossary →
Growing cassava, stage by stage
Your cassava crop from clean stems to safe food — choose healthy cuttings, plant and root them, keep the young crop weed-free and virus-free, then lift and process the roots before they spoil.
- Pick your field and your planting stems
- Plant the cuttings and get a full stand
- Build the canopy and keep it clean
- Bulk the roots
- The roots reach maturity
- Harvest — lift the roots by hand
- Process fast — and make it safe to eat
18 step-by-step tasks in the app
Every task for cassava — what to do, when to do it and why it matters — with the amounts worked out for your own field, reminders as each one falls due, and warnings before extreme weather.
Pests and diseases that attack cassava
13 more threats tracked in the app
Divisi tells you which of these is a risk on your cassava right now, when to walk the field looking for it, and what to do the moment you find it.
Frequently asked questions
How long does cassava take to grow?
Cassava takes about 240–730 days from sowing to maturity, though the exact length varies with variety, temperature and how the season runs.
What spacing should I use for cassava?
Space cassava rows about 100 cm apart, with roughly 100 cm between plants within the row.
How deep should cassava be planted?
Sow cassava at about 5–10 cm deep. Shallower risks drying out; deeper wastes seed energy before the shoot reaches light.
What pests and diseases attack cassava?
The ones covered in this guide are Anthracnose, Bacterial blight, Bagworms. Each has its own page explaining how to identify, scout for and control it.
Grow cassava with a plan, not a guess
Divisi turns this guide into a dated plan for your own field — what to do each week, reminders as tasks fall due, and warnings before extreme weather. Free for farmers, works offline.
Or check your field first