The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), based in the Nigerian city of Ibadan, has been awarded a US$600,000 grant to promote cassava production and processing. The W.K. Kellog Foundation of the US gave the grant to promote NEPAD's Pan Africa Cassava Initiative (NPACI) for sustainable economic growth, food security and poverty alleviation in Africa. NEPAD is the New Partnership for Africa's Development, an African Union (AU) effort to kick start development on the African continent.
IITA Public Relations Manager Mr. Taye Babaleye said that the grant would help IITA to promote the production of cassava, a drought tolerant crop, in order to reduce the risk of dependency on maize as the major food crop in some drought-hit countries.
A statement issued by IITA said that in 1997/98, a severe drought devastated maize farms in Southern Africa, putting the lives of 27 million people in Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Swaziland, Tanzania, and Zambia at high risk of severe food shortage. Dry conditions in a swathe of the same area in March 2007 are causing renewed fears of low maize harvests and increased hunger in the region.
Working through the Southern Africa Root Crops Research Network (SARRNET) , IITA initiated the Masinda Cassava Club in the Malawian village of Katimba as a pilot processing center to turn cassava into industrial starch. The farmers now produce cassava with yields of 22 tonnes per hectare. The Club sold about 40 tonnes of starch worth over US$20,000 after one year.
Prior to the establishment of the factory cassava had no real monetary value in Katimba. Farmers now earn over US$800 per hectare of fresh cassava sold to the Club.
IITA
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