Farmers in seven states of Nigeria including Oyo, Osun, Ondo, Ekiti, Kogi, Nasarawa, and Benue will benefit from the distribution of free improved cassava varieties, thanks to the IITA-implemented “Unleashing the Power of Cassava in Africa” (UPoCA) project funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
The distribution of the varieties is part of activities lined up for 2010 by IITA-UPoCA researchers who are implementing the project in seven countries, namely Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Ghana, Tanzania, Malawi, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Mozambique.
“In Nigeria, we aim to empower 75,000 farms with improved varieties by the end of 2010. We also expect cassava yield in these areas to increase by at least 30 percent,” said Richardson Okechukwu, IITA-UPoCA Deputy Project Manager who is also the Nigeria Country Coordinator.
“The project will thereafter ensure food security for Nigerians and neighboring northern countries like Niger and Chad, and will also provide more roots for the large-scale cassava industries,” he added.
Although increasing cassava production is one important aspect of the project, researchers are also pushing improved processing and utilization technologies to create more markets for the crop.
Capacity building is also a top priority. From 23 February to 3 March, the IITA-UPoCA project conducted two Training of Trainers courses for farmers, processors, Women in Agriculture of Agricultural Development Programs, NGOs, and other private business firms on cassava processing and utilization; and products packaging and labeling.
Participants were trained how to process 21 products including gari, soy fortified gari, starch, tapioca granules, soy milk, high quality cassava flour (HQCF), 10 percent HQCF composite bread, cassava chin-chin, cassava meat ball, cassava root fritters, cassava croquettes, cassava cocktail tidbits, cassava flour doughnuts, cassava egg rolls, cassava cookies, cassava queen cakes, cassava strips, odorless fufu, kpokpo gari, yellow gari and cassava meat pie. They were also exposed to mechanized processing using motorized cassava graters and double screw press developed by IITA. The course also exposed participants to the importance of packaging and marketing, among others.
###
Pour plus d'informations, veuillez contacter :
Richardson Okechukwu, r.okechukwu@cgiar.org
IITA-UPoCA Deputy Project Manager and Nigeria Country Coordinator
Jeffrey T. Oliver, o.jeffrey@cgiar.org
Chargé de communication d'entreprise (international)
Godwin Atser, g.atser@cgiar.org
Chargé de la communication d'entreprise (Afrique de l'Ouest)
Bureau de la communication
IITA – Siège
Ibadan, Nigéria
URL : www.iita.org
À propos de l'IITA L'Afrique est confrontée à des problèmes complexes qui minent l'agriculture et la vie des populations. Nous développons des solutions agricoles avec nos partenaires pour lutter contre la faim et la pauvreté. Nos recherches pour le développement (R4D), maintes fois récompensées, reposent sur une réflexion ciblée et autorisée, ancrée dans les besoins de développement de l'Afrique subsaharienne. Nous travaillons avec des partenaires en Afrique et au-delà pour réduire les risques pour les producteurs et les consommateurs, améliorer la qualité et la productivité des cultures, et générer de la richesse grâce à l'agriculture. L'IITA est une organisation internationale de R4D à but non lucratif créée en 1967, dirigée par un Conseil d'administration et soutenue principalement par le CGIAR.
Contribué par
Histoires récentes