Researchers and key partners, under the auspices of Support for Agricultural Research and Development for Strategic Crops, have commenced activities towards improved cassava production by at least 20 per cent.
They intend to increase household incomes and food security, and make the root crop work for the poor.
Four countries: DR Congo, Sierra Leone, Tanzania and Zambia, are the main beneficiaries of the cassava component but the project allows neighbouring countries to tap from technologies that would be generated.
“About 500,000 farmers are to directly benefit from the crop with more than two million indirect beneficiaries,” said Dr Chrys Akem, project coordinator for the SARD-SC at the launch of the cassava component of the project in DR Congo.
Consumed by more than 600 million people in the developing countries, cassava is now competing with crops such as maize and rice as Africa’s major staple.
But the potential of the crop is still stymied by myriad challenges including pests and diseases, poor adoption of improved varieties by farmers, and low use of improved best practices.
Consequently, yields across most regions from local varieties are below 10 tons per hectare as opposed to over 30 tons per hectare obtained from improved varieties.
“The SARD-SC project intends to tackle most of the bottlenecks confronting cassava by disseminating improved varieties and unlocking the power of the crop along the value chain,” Dr Akem added.
Participating countries welcomed the project, saying it would help to alleviate hunger and poverty, and improve food security in Africa.
The Democratic Republic of Congo’s Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Jean-Chrysostome Vahanwiti, said cassava was a food security crop and that research to improve the fortunes of cassava was a welcome development for the country and the region.