{"id":13222,"date":"2026-06-20T12:54:28","date_gmt":"2026-06-20T12:54:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev.iita.org\/news-item\/cassava-could-transform-economies-in-central-africa\/"},"modified":"2026-06-29T18:22:48","modified_gmt":"2026-06-29T18:22:48","slug":"cassava-could-transform-economies-in-central-africa","status":"publish","type":"news-item","link":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/news-item\/cassava-could-transform-economies-in-central-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"Cassava could \u201ctransform economies\u201d in Central Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ministers of\u00a0agriculture<\/a>\u00a0and rural development from Cameroon, Central African Republic, and Gabon are optimistic that agriculture could transform the region into a semi-industrialized economy, with cassava being at the center of the sector.<\/strong>\nThey were speaking with agricultural experts,\u00a0policymakers<\/a>,\u00a0and smallholder farmers in Cameroon during the inaugural biennial Cassava forum last month (6-9 December).\u00a0<\/strong><\/h4>\n
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Cassava has the potential to transform African economies and improve farmers\u2019 livelihoods<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nThe initiative is a newly established regional forum on cassava for Central African countries that aims to facilitate dialogue on how to add value to cassava farming.\n\nIt also aims to bring relevant individuals and institutions in the cassava value chain together to discuss the challenges and opportunities in cassava\u00a0farming<\/a>, especially in Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Gabon.\n\nThe forum was organized by the Netherlands-headquartered Technical Centre for Agriculture and Rural Cooperation (CTA) in partnership with the UN\u2019s Food and Agriculture Organization and IITA.\u00a0The Ministers, speaking at different sessions during the forum, noted that cassava is a very important crop that could help the region boost its food security through increased production. They urged researchers and the private sector to help the transfer and adoption of new technologies by smallholder farmers to enable them to overcome challenges such as\u00a0climate change<\/a>.\n\n\u201cThis forum is very important in helping us address the challenges facing a crop that is important, especially to the rural poor,\u201d says Ananga Messina, ministerial delegate to the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development of Cameroon. Messina urged hospitality industries to ensure that cassava meals are served in their restaurants and hotels to help increase markets for farmers. She added that the next forum to be held in 2018 in the Central African Republic should address postharvest losses in processing of cassava, which is still a major challenge in the region.Messina also asked participating countries to have national forums prior to the regional one to discuss national challenges and opportunities. She says that this would make the regional forum\u00a0sustainable<\/a>.\n\nVincent Fautrel, a senior program coordinator, agricultural value chains at CTA, noted that \u201cCassava has been associated with the rural poor for a long time yet it has the potential to transform economies.\u201d\n\nFautrel therefore urged the region to increase investments in the crop because it has helped boost agricultural production in Ghana and Nigeria. He added that the forum could help change the perception towards cassava and how to improve its value chain. (Adapted from SciDev.Net)","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The initiative is a newly established regional forum on cassava for Central African countries that aims to facilitate dialogue on how to add value to cassava farming.<\/p>","protected":false},"featured_media":16999,"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 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