Cassava was not known in wild state and its evolution as a species is directly linked to selection by man under cultivation. A famine reserve by Colonial governments such as Java and the British in West Africa and Southern India and of cassava processing export industries were established in Makker (Hinton, 1988) given extended maturity duration, cassava cultivation is limited to the tropics and sub tropical.

In Itu, this root crop is only second to yam. This importance is traced to the colonial period when cassava was often famine reserve crop. Some farm holdings in cassava cultivation to the present day support this view. However, cassava today is a commercial crop inter planted so often with other crops. Hardwood stems cuttings usually about 30mm long are planted either on moulds or ridges or on the flat bed. Manuring the soil improves the yield, but little attention with early weeding is beneficial. Cassava is consumed in many forms such as garri, fufu, tapioca, flour, boiled or roasted for consumption and can be consumed or boiled to pigs, and other herbivores. The leaves are eaten as vegetable.

In Itu, Akwa Ibom State generally, there exist extensive trade in garri, cassava is widely produced, just like cash crop with existing market in future. Development of cassava production will require strengthening of the market for the crop. Finance is one of the problems that farmers from Itu encounter because most of the cassava farmers lack finance to purchase planting materials and to hire labour to support the farming operation. Sometimes government give grants, but farmers misused the fund.