cassava Archives - Page 3 of 14

Project to build sustainable cassava seed system in Africa gets new phase

Ibadan, Nigeria: To improve their yields and incomes, African cassava farmers need regular and reliable access to high quality planting materials of the newest and best varieties. Access to such cassava stems, however, is often a problem. Agrodealers don’t sell them, and free distributions by NGOs and government programs are sporadic and unreliable. Consequently, many…

ACAI partner establishes 492 training plots for scaling AKILIMO

The Tanzania Food and Nutrition Centre (TFNC), a primary partner of the Africa Cassava Agronomy Initiative (ACAI), has established and planted 492 validation trial sites for AKILIMO. Also, TFNC set up 46 demonstration sites across the ecological zones covered by ACAI. Planting took place between October 2019 and April 2020 because of the varying ecological…

Manual weeding is labour intensive and cumbersome which causes farmers to delay weeding their cassava fields. Weeds account for over 30% in yeild loss

Scientists recommend additional herbicides for weed control in cassava farming

Cassava is the second most-consumed staple food after maize in sub-Saharan Africa, feeding more than 300 million people. Nigeria is the world’s biggest producer of cassava at 59 million tons per year. However, this food security crop that can tolerate prolonged droughts is yet to attain its yield potential. Smallholder farmers in Africa harvest 8‒12…

IITA supports formation of Tanzania Cassava Producers and processors Association (TACAPPA)

The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) has collaborated with other stakeholders to develop and launch the Tanzania Cassava Producers and Processors Association (TACCAPA), which brings together cassava producers and processors to address bottlenecks and challenges facing production and utilization of the crop in the country. The Tanzania Deputy Minister for Agriculture, Hon. Omary Mgumba,…

IITA trains cassava processors and bakers in Rwanda

According to the 2018 data published by the National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda, cassava is the second most grown crop after banana in terms of cultivated area. The same data indicates that cassava is the fourth most consumed staple crop in Rwanda, as freshly harvested roots or as transformed recipes majorly ugali made from…

Malawi farmers and processors enjoy increased revenue after C:AVA and IITA training

Farmers and processors in Malawi have registered increased incomes after participating in capacity-building training carried out by the Cassava: Adding Value for Africa (C:AVA2) project under the auspices of IITA, in partnership with Chancellor College. The training was undertaken as part of the GIZ-funded project on “Promoting Cassava Commercialization for Increased Income, Employment and Food…

How the right planting season can boost cassava yields

Every farmer wants high yields from their crop to get more income. But, do farmers know the best planting time if they are to reduce losses and maximize returns? Do they also know what happens when they replant stems from the previous cassava crop year after year? Answers to the questions above can be found…

Central Bank of Nigeria to collaborate with IITA GoSeed on cassava production

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) hosted different stakeholders in the cassava value chain in Nigeria as it works on developing the sector in the country. Stakeholders included a team from IITA comprising IITA-Abuja Head of Station Tarawali Gbassey, ATASP-1 Cassava Commodity Specialist Richardson Okechukwu, and Akinyemi Ibikunle of the IITA GoSeed team. The meeting,…

Success Stories: Turning cassava into cash in Malawi

Kaboma Banda, sitting under the shadow of a partially leafy tree in his courtyard, peels off a gigantic cassava tuber. His grass-thatched house located in the somewhat hilly terrain of Chintheche village in Nkhata Bay District of Northern Malawi is only accessible through craggy paths lined with shrubs and arid grass. But the 48-year old…

CBN and IITA explore areas of synergy to boost cassava production in Nigeria

In an effort to improve cassava productivity and value addition activities in Nigeria, representatives from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) visited IITA Ibadan on 25 September to explore possible avenues of collaboration, especially in facilitating finance for farmers. Achieving more efficiency in the sector promises to increase incomes of the value chain actors. IITA…