I used to take cassava for granted – but it could help to wean the world off wheat | Chiedozie Egesi

The hardy root crop could be part of the solution to the grain supply challenges aggravated by the Ukraine war

Growing up in Nigeria, a staple of our family dinner table was a doughy dish called fufu. In the US or Europe, fufu would be called a dumpling. The difference is that dumplings, typically made with wheat flour in the northern hemisphere, in Nigeria are made from cassava flour.

I think about this crucial difference as the escalating food crisis in Ukraine exposes a dangerous global dependence on a single commodity: wheat. Nigeria, for example, is the world's sixth largest wheat importer, with a significant portion coming from Ukraine and Russia. Like many African countries, Nigeria is bracing for the impact of surging wheat prices.