A farmer and his friends will enjoy plenty of cassava pie after he dug up a massive tuber that weighed in at 24lbs.Raphael Barnett said it took him over an hour to excavate around the veins of the vegetable so that he would not split it.The 64-year-old explained yesterday: “It’s a year-old plant, so you just plant it and keep weeding around it, keep it clear from the weeds and stuff.“I decided to go and dig it up today. When I dug it up I didn’t want to break it so I followed the veins all the way through and then I finally got to the bottom of it.”Mr Barnett, from Pembroke, said that he would have uprooted the cassava earlier if the Ag Show had not been cancelled in April because of the Covid-19 pandemic.He added: “Last year I had the first prize — it wasn’t this big. This is the biggest I’ve ever had.”The grandfather of two, who farms in the Spice Hill Road area of Warwick, took the cassava to the Government Marketing Centre to be weighed.Although he did not measure it, the tuber was thought to be about ten feet long.Mr Barnett, who sells his produce outside Place’s Place bar on Dundonald Street, Hamilton, on Fridays and Saturdays, said he planned to make cassava pie for the Cup Match holiday.He added: “It’s very huge, but I’m going to share it with friends.”