Characteristics and comparative advantage: Cassava was introduced to Pacific Islands in the 1800 by colonists. It became a food source of less status compared to taro, yams and bananas. However, more recently, it has become an alternative food source for Solomon Islanders because it thrives in many soil types, easy to cultivate and ideal food crop for planting in rural boarding schools and Rural Training Centers (RTCs), school gardens as well as peri-urban areas as source of food and income earning for sales in the markets for the employed and the un-employed living in urban and semi-urban areas. Currently, different sustainable production practices have been developed.  

Producing area: Mainly grown by rural families (80%) of the 700,000population. It is a subsistence crop but now progressing to be a potential livelihood crop especially for those living close to the urban centers. Cassava is often intercropped with other root crops. Solomon Islands rural communities have developed unique traditional sustainable gardening practices as agro-forestry systems. Cassava grows well in the various soil types including coralline costal soils as well as in the mountains, less than 300m above sea level as well as seasonal dry and wet areas.