Cassava (
Manihot esculenta
) is becoming an important household food security crop especially in the drier areas of Zimbabwe. Cassava, however, performs differently under various soil and climatic conditions. To address this problem, eighteen newly introduced cassava varieties namely, M 86/00106, I92/0326, 92
B/0006, I92/0057, XM7, I91/02324, TME1, I92/0067, I4(2)1443, I63397, XM6, I92/0342, I4(2)1425, TME2, I30001, 91/0282, I00142, I91/02327; and two local accessions (Rushinga White and Smart farmer) were evaluated under rainfed conditions, without fertilisation during the 2000/2001 and 2002/2003 cropping seasons. From the study, M86/00106, I920326, 92
B/006, I920057 and XM7 showed stable yields across the two environments, even though yields were slightly higher in NR 11. Mean yield of the six best performing-improved varieties was 14.4 t ha
-1, 26% higher than 10.70 t ha
-1, mean of the local accessions. The study also showed that cassava will produce acceptable yields even under sub-optimal conditions. There were no significant disease incidence recorded in both sites and on all varieties.