cassava Archives - Page 8 of 14

Picture of Farmers listening with keen interest to an explanation on postharvest processing of cassava

Local government praises ATASP-1 for improved cassava intervention

A local government official lauds the Agricultural Transformation Agenda Support Programme Phase One (ATASP-1) project, describing it as the “first Federal Government program in their community.”

Picture of Dr Abdulai Jallo, ACAI project coordinator, and Mr James Watiti of CABI in a discussion during the ACAI inhouse planning meeting in Zanzibar.

ACAI sets pace for 2018

The African Cassava Agronomy Initiative (ACAI) team met on 21-22 June in Zanzibar to review the second season results and plan for the project’s third season activities that will be undertaken during the 2017-2018 season in Tanzania.

Picture of Christopher Tocco (center) with other USAID delegates and event participants at the youth Agripreneurs exhibition center.

IITA, USAID Mission to jointly tackle cassava diseases in DR Congo

The USAID Mission in DR Congo has partnered with IITA to promote research in forestalling Cassava Brown Streak Disease (CBSD), which has drastically reduced cassava production in the country since the late 1990s and early 2000s.

Picture of brown streak disease in cassava.

R4D Special: Spirited effort by IITA team to manage the viruses destroying cassava in Africa

From convincing communities to uproot all their cassava to replace with new clean planting materials, piloting a commercial system to supply disease-free planting materials, to developing new rapid methods to diagnose the viruses, the IITA Vector Entomology team in Eastern Africa has certainly been busy exploring all options to save the cassava in Eastern and parts of Central Africa.

Picture of the participants pose with the Station OIC Chris Okafor (center, wearing a cap) after the workshop.

CCPC operators in South Kivu, DR Congo, meet to chart action for steady progress

For two days, 9—10 May, managers of eight community cassava processing centers (CCPCs) in Kavumu, Katana, Mulamba, Bunyakiri 1, Bunyakiri 2, Kamanyola, and Luvungi as well as technicians in charge of production met at IITA Kalambo to take stock, exchange experiences, share knowledge, and articulate strategies on the way forward.

Picture of Okechukwu and Dalberg and Ford Foundation representatives giving award plaque to winner of the challenge from NRI

NRI cassava bag wins US$500,000 Cassava Innovation Challenge award

The Natural Resources Institute (NRI), based at the University of Greenwich, United Kingdom, in partnership with the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNAAB), Nigeria, was declared the winner of the Cassava Innovation Challenge launched last year by Rockefeller, IITA, and Dalberg.

Picture of IITA/SARD-SC cassava processing center building at ZARI-Mansa.

IITA looks to spur cassava sector growth in Zambia as it hands over processing center to national partner

IITA, through its “Support to Agricultural Research for Development of Strategic Crops in Africa” (SARD-SC) project funded by the African Development Bank (AfDB), turned over a modern cassava processing center to its national partner, the Zambia Agriculture Research Institute (ZARI), on 12 April in Mansa, Luapula Province, some 800 km north of the capital Lusaka.

Picture of Cassava stakeholders celebrating the project BASICS in developing sustainable seed systems in Nigeria.

Seed sector: Economically sustainable seed businesses can transform cassava production in Nigeria

Nigerian seed sector professionals said that businesses selling improved varieties and high quality cassava stems for cultivation could help farmers significantly raise their productivity. The benefits of this raised productivity are expected to be enjoyed by all the stakeholders across the value chain in a sustainable way.

SARD-SC project stimulates rural economy through establishment of cassava community processing centers in DR Congo

The cassava community processing centers (CCPCs) are currently stimulating the economy and creating employment for the rural population of Kavumu village, in the Kabare territory of South-Kivu Province of the DR Congo. Until the introduction of the CCPC in early 2015, there was a high level of unemployment in Kavumu community.

Three Liberian journals feature IITA’s work on cassava

Three Liberian journals recently reported how a series of training using IITA’s improved cassava varieties has empowered and is now helping farmers fight poverty and malnutrition in the country.