Cassava Field Day, Aileu
Cassava was the flavour of the day when 18 local farmers attended a field day at Quinta Portugal Research Station on 16 October 2009. The farmers tasted samples of the 20 cassava varieties being trialled at Quintal Portugal, both as boiled cassava and as raw cassava, harvested straight from the field.
Farmer Adelina Amaral selected the variety Ca25 as her favourite. “I chose this one as the best because it is sweet to eat, it has a good tuber, it has a smooth texture, and it is big,” she said.
Seeds of Life (SoL) will use farmer feedback from the field
day to assist in the selection of cassava varieties to test
further in on-farm demonstration trials (OFDTs). The results from both research
station trials and OFDTs allow SoL to determine which varieties are best suited
to the agricultural conditions in East Timor, and which varieties local farmers
are keen to plant in their own fields.
