{"id":16792,"date":"2026-06-20T12:53:16","date_gmt":"2026-06-20T12:53:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev.iita.org\/news-item\/iita-looks-to-spur-cassava-sector-growth-in-zambia-as-it-hands-over-processing-center-to-national-partner\/"},"modified":"2026-06-29T18:37:40","modified_gmt":"2026-06-29T18:37:40","slug":"iita-looks-to-spur-cassava-sector-growth-in-zambia-as-it-hands-over-processing-center-to-national-partner","status":"publish","type":"news-item","link":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/news-item\/iita-looks-to-spur-cassava-sector-growth-in-zambia-as-it-hands-over-processing-center-to-national-partner\/","title":{"rendered":"IITA looks to spur cassava sector growth in Zambia as it hands over processing center to national partner"},"content":{"rendered":"
IITA, through its \u201cSupport to Agricultural Research for Development of Strategic Crops in Africa\u201d (SARD-SC) project funded by the African Development Bank (AfDB), turned over a modern cassava processing center to its national partner, the Zambia Agriculture Research Institute (ZARI), on 12 April in Mansa, Luapula Province, some 800 km north of the capital Lusaka.<\/h5>\nThe processing center is part of the project\u2019s commitment to support ZARI in developing the country\u2019s cassava industry.\n\nThe cassava processing center is equipped with a mechanized cassava grater, presser, firewood-fuelled fryer, sieving machine, and high-capacity milling machine. It also has an office, workers\u2019 washroom, loading and drying dock, and cassava washing bay. The center can process 5 tons of fresh roots daily into chips and high-quality cassava flour (HQCF), among other products. The cost of building and equipping the center was about 1.2 million Zambian Kwacha (US$120,000).\n
\n\n\"Picture<\/a>\n

IITA\/SARD-SC cassava processing center building at ZARI-Mansa.<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\nThe handover and commissioning event was attended by representatives of\u00a0IITA<\/a>, ZARI, AfDB, and the provincial government, as well as by cassava farmers, farmers\u2019 associations, and the media. Rody Chakaba, Mansa District Commissioner, gave the keynote address.\n\nPheneas Ntawuruhunga<\/a>, cassava breeder based at IITA\u2019s southern Africa Hub in Lusaka, Zambia, and representing the Institute, said that the construction and handover of the Mansa cassava processing center \u201cis one of the key outputs of the SARD-SC project that will empower ZARI to conduct cassava-based capacity building and livelihood activities to benefit smallholder farmers, especially the women and the youth, by making available machinery and equipment for training on and producing value-added products.\u201d\n\n\u201cLater you will see and sample some of the food products that could be produced from this center, which have been prepared by local women and members of the Zambia\u00a0IITA Youth Agripreneurs<\/a>,\u201d he explained.\n\nLewis Bangwe, AfDB representative, added that the establishment of the processing center \u201cis aimed at helping address some of the gaps in agriculture in Zambia: the lack of crop processing infrastructure, weak capacity in practical areas of agricultural research, and non-interest\/non-participation of youth in agricultural activities.\n\nThe Bank is proud to be associated with IITA and ZARI, which are partnering to implement SARD-SC that is helping to develop the cassava sector in the country. This center is a concrete manifestation of the Bank\u2019s commitment to help improve the plight of Zambian smallholder farmers,\u201d Bangwe added.\n\n\u201cI would also like to emphasize that this is part of our efforts to make agriculture attractive to our Zambian youth by demonstrating that money could indeed be made from cassava.\u201d\n\nMonde Zulu, Deputy Director of ZARI, indicated that \u201cZARI will use this facility to conduct training among farmers and youth on processing cassava to produce high-value products such as HQCF, which in turn can be used to make food products such as biscuits, titbits, and cakes. These could then be additional sources of income for farmers, and more importantly, stimulate the demand for cassava and spur the growth of the sector in Mansa and northern Zambia.\u201d\n\nDistrict Commissioner Chakaba, in his address, said \u201cI am honored to give the keynote address at this important event and to officially inaugurate this cassava processing center. As ZARI and IITA find more ways for our farmers to produce more cassava, I am happy to note that both institutions have also not lost sight of the importance of adding value to the crop through processing.\u201d\n\n\u201cI also thank the AfDB for supporting this initiative. Farmers cannot continue to be just raw material suppliers and expect their plight to improve. For farmers to move forward\u2014and for our youth to take over agriculture from us old people\u2014we need to show that better income could be realized by processing cassava into high-value products. This is what this facility is for,\u201d he added.\n\n\u201cThis facility symbolizes the livelihoods potential of cassava and the people that depend on it\u2026I officially declare this center open,\u201d he concluded.","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

IITA, through its \u201cSupport to Agricultural Research for Development of Strategic Crops in Africa<\/p>","protected":false},"featured_media":16793,"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":[46],"news-type":[],"hub":[62],"crop":[],"impact-areas":[],"item-year":[195],"class_list":["post-16792","news-item","type-news-item","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","location-zambia","hub-eastern-africa","item-year-195"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-item\/16792","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":1,"href":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-item\/16792\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23967,"href":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-item\/16792\/revisions\/23967"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16793"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16792"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16792"},{"taxonomy":"science-area","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/science-area?post=16792"},{"taxonomy":"program","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/program?post=16792"},{"taxonomy":"location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/location?post=16792"},{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=16792"},{"taxonomy":"hub","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hub?post=16792"},{"taxonomy":"crop","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/crop?post=16792"},{"taxonomy":"impact-areas","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/impact-areas?post=16792"},{"taxonomy":"item-year","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/item-year?post=16792"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}