Cassava breeding: past, present and future

Cassava is a remarkable crop with immense significance. Its role extends from being a key staple ensuring food security in Africa to serving as a competitive source for industrial starch production in Southeast Asia. The broad range of uses for cassava roots and leaves has led to a diverse set of breeding objectives. Varieties of cassava intended for starch and animal feed production require a few clearly defined traits. On the other hand, ethnic products for human consumption involve various root quality characteristics that remain poorly understood. Over the past three decades, investments in cassava breeding have increased significantly. Despite the rapid and successful integration of new technologies into breeding programs, significant knowledge gaps persist. The lack of critical protocols has limited the full potential of these technologies. Research progress in cassava, therefore, has been uneven: while genetic transformation and the development of the first molecular map occurred in the 1990s, the implementation of proper flowering control—a key breeding protocol—was only widely adopted by 2020. Cassava is one of the few major crops whose breeding relies on heterozygous progenitors, which has considerably hindered the impact of marker-assisted and genomic selections. This review outlines past achievements in cassava research, identifies critical research gaps, underscores the need for integrating conventional and advanced technologies, and emphasizes the importance of prioritizing impact-driven investments over technology-driven ones.