{"id":13092,"date":"2026-06-20T12:26:21","date_gmt":"2026-06-20T12:26:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev.iita.org\/news-item\/researchers-begin-activities-to-make-cassava-work-for-the-poor\/"},"modified":"2026-06-20T12:26:21","modified_gmt":"2026-06-20T12:26:21","slug":"researchers-begin-activities-to-make-cassava-work-for-the-poor","status":"publish","type":"news-item","link":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/news-item\/researchers-begin-activities-to-make-cassava-work-for-the-poor\/","title":{"rendered":"Researchers begin activities to make cassava work for the poor"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"http:\/\/newint.iita.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Researchers.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-9856\" src=\"http:\/\/newint.iita.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Researchers.jpg\" alt=\"Researchers  and partners\" width=\"250\" height=\"146\" \/><\/a>Researchers  and key partners working under the Support for Agricultural Research  and Development for Strategic Crops (SARD-SC) have kicked off activities to improve the productivity of cassava by at least 20 percent in project sites, increase household incomes  and food security,  and make the root crop work for the poor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Four countries\u2014DR Congo, Sierra Leone, Tanzania  and Zambia\u2014are the main beneficiaries of the cassava component but the project allows neighboring countries to tap from technologies that would be generated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cAbout 500,000 farmers will directly benefit from the crop with more than 2 million indirect beneficiaries,\u201d said Dr Chrys Akem, SARD-SC Project Coordinator, at the launch of the cassava component of the project in DR Congo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Consumed by more than 600 million people in the developing countries, cassava is now competing with crops such as maize  and rice as Africa\u2019s major staple. But the potential of the crop is still stymied by a myriad challenges including pests  and diseases, poor adoption of improved varieties by farmers,  and low use of improved best practices. Consequently, yields from local varieties across most regions are below 10 tons per hectare as opposed to over 30 tons per hectare obtained from improved varieties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cSARD-SC intends to tackle most of the bottlenecks confronting cassava by disseminating improved varieties  and unlocking the power of the crop along the value chain,\u201d Dr Akem added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Participating countries welcomed the project, saying that it would help alleviate hunger  and poverty,  and improve food security in Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">DR Congo\u2019s Minister of Agriculture  and Rural Development, Jean-Chrysostome Vahanwiti said cassava is a food security crop  and that research to improve cassava was a welcome development for the country  and the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The minister, who was represented by his Chief of Staff, Dr Alexis Makumyaviri, said cassava is important to DR Congo because it is the major source of calorie  and protein in the country. He applauded the attention being given to women  and youth in terms of wealth  and job creation in the project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Launched last year, the SARD-SC is a 5-year, multi-CGIAR center initiative funded by the African Development Bank that is aimed at enhancing the productivity  and income derived from cassava, maize, rice,  and wheat \u2013 four of the six commodities that African Heads of States, through the Comprehensive African Agricultural Development Program, have defined as strategic crops for Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The project, which will run until 2016, will be co-implemented by three Africa-based CGIAR centers: IITA, Africa Rice Center (AfricaRice),  and the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA), supported by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). IITA is also the Executing Agency of the project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Drs Victor Manyong  and Bernard Vanlauwe, IITA Hub Directors, said the success of the project depended on joint efforts with partners to ensure that scientific innovations work for the poor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Pour toute information, veuillez contacter :<br>Godwin Atser, <a>g.atser@cgiar.org<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Researchers and key partners working under the Support for Agricultural Research and Development for Strategic Crops (SARD-SC) have kicked off activities to improve the productivity of cassava by at least 20 percent in project sites, increase household incomes and food security, and make the root crop work for the poor&#8230;<\/p>","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}}},"tags":[],"science-area":[],"program":[],"location":[],"news-type":[],"hub":[],"crop":[66],"impact-areas":[],"item-year":[191],"class_list":["post-13092","news-item","type-news-item","status-publish","hentry","crop-cassava","item-year-191"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Researchers begin activities to make cassava work for the poor - IITA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/news-item\/researchers-begin-activities-to-make-cassava-work-for-the-poor\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"fr_FR\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Researchers begin activities to make cassava work for the poor - IITA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Researchers and key partners working under the Support for Agricultural Research and Development for Strategic Crops (SARD-SC) have kicked off activities to improve the productivity of cassava by at least 20 percent in project sites, increase household incomes and food security, and make the root crop work for the poor...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/news-item\/researchers-begin-activities-to-make-cassava-work-for-the-poor\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"IITA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/IITA.CGIAR\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@IITA_CGIAR\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Dur\u00e9e de lecture estim\u00e9e\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/iita.org\\\/news-item\\\/researchers-begin-activities-to-make-cassava-work-for-the-poor\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/iita.org\\\/news-item\\\/researchers-begin-activities-to-make-cassava-work-for-the-poor\\\/\",\"name\":\"Researchers begin activities to make cassava work for the poor - IITA\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/iita.org\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/iita.org\\\/news-item\\\/researchers-begin-activities-to-make-cassava-work-for-the-poor\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/iita.org\\\/news-item\\\/researchers-begin-activities-to-make-cassava-work-for-the-poor\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/newint.iita.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/11\\\/Researchers.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-20T12:26:21+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/iita.org\\\/news-item\\\/researchers-begin-activities-to-make-cassava-work-for-the-poor\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"fr-FR\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/iita.org\\\/news-item\\\/researchers-begin-activities-to-make-cassava-work-for-the-poor\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"fr-FR\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/iita.org\\\/news-item\\\/researchers-begin-activities-to-make-cassava-work-for-the-poor\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/newint.iita.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/11\\\/Researchers.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/newint.iita.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/11\\\/Researchers.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/iita.org\\\/news-item\\\/researchers-begin-activities-to-make-cassava-work-for-the-poor\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/iita.org\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"News\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/iita.org\\\/news-item\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Researchers begin activities to make cassava work for the poor\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/iita.org\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/iita.org\\\/\",\"name\":\"IITA\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/iita.org\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/iita.org\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"fr-FR\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/iita.org\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"International Institute of Tropical Agriculture\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/iita.org\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"fr-FR\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/iita.org\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/iita.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/07\\\/IITA-Logo-finalll.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/iita.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/07\\\/IITA-Logo-finalll.png\",\"width\":1788,\"height\":591,\"caption\":\"International Institute of Tropical Agriculture\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/iita.org\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/IITA.CGIAR\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/IITA_CGIAR\",\"http:\\\/\\\/www.linkedin.com\\\/company\\\/iita\",\"http:\\\/\\\/www.youtube.com\\\/user\\\/IITAPUBLISHING\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Researchers begin activities to make cassava work for the poor - IITA","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/news-item\/researchers-begin-activities-to-make-cassava-work-for-the-poor\/","og_locale":"fr_FR","og_type":"article","og_title":"Researchers begin activities to make cassava work for the poor - IITA","og_description":"Researchers and key partners working under the Support for Agricultural Research and Development for Strategic Crops (SARD-SC) have kicked off activities to improve the productivity of cassava by at least 20 percent in project sites, increase household incomes and food security, and make the root crop work for the poor...","og_url":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/news-item\/researchers-begin-activities-to-make-cassava-work-for-the-poor\/","og_site_name":"IITA","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/IITA.CGIAR","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_site":"@IITA_CGIAR","twitter_misc":{"Dur\u00e9e de lecture estim\u00e9e":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/iita.org\/news-item\/researchers-begin-activities-to-make-cassava-work-for-the-poor\/","url":"https:\/\/iita.org\/news-item\/researchers-begin-activities-to-make-cassava-work-for-the-poor\/","name":"Researchers begin activities to make cassava work for the poor - IITA","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/iita.org\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/iita.org\/news-item\/researchers-begin-activities-to-make-cassava-work-for-the-poor\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/iita.org\/news-item\/researchers-begin-activities-to-make-cassava-work-for-the-poor\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/newint.iita.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Researchers.jpg","datePublished":"2026-06-20T12:26:21+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/iita.org\/news-item\/researchers-begin-activities-to-make-cassava-work-for-the-poor\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"fr-FR","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/iita.org\/news-item\/researchers-begin-activities-to-make-cassava-work-for-the-poor\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"fr-FR","@id":"https:\/\/iita.org\/news-item\/researchers-begin-activities-to-make-cassava-work-for-the-poor\/#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/newint.iita.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Researchers.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/newint.iita.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Researchers.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/iita.org\/news-item\/researchers-begin-activities-to-make-cassava-work-for-the-poor\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/iita.org\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"News","item":"https:\/\/iita.org\/news-item\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Researchers begin activities to make cassava work for the poor"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/iita.org\/#website","url":"https:\/\/iita.org\/","name":"IITA","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/iita.org\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/iita.org\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"fr-FR"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/iita.org\/#organization","name":"Institut International d'Agriculture Tropicale","url":"https:\/\/iita.org\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"fr-FR","@id":"https:\/\/iita.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/iita.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/IITA-Logo-finalll.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/iita.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/IITA-Logo-finalll.png","width":1788,"height":591,"caption":"International Institute of Tropical Agriculture"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/iita.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/IITA.CGIAR","https:\/\/x.com\/IITA_CGIAR","http:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/iita","http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/IITAPUBLISHING"]}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-item\/13092","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-item"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news-item"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-item\/13092\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13092"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13092"},{"taxonomy":"science-area","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/science-area?post=13092"},{"taxonomy":"program","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/program?post=13092"},{"taxonomy":"location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/location?post=13092"},{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=13092"},{"taxonomy":"hub","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hub?post=13092"},{"taxonomy":"crop","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/crop?post=13092"},{"taxonomy":"impact-areas","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/impact-areas?post=13092"},{"taxonomy":"item-year","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/item-year?post=13092"}],"curies":[{"name":"bien jou\u00e9","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}