High-Value Commodities and Agroprocessing - International ...

of research needs for increasing food supply in Africa, postharvest
preservation and processing of excess production are
recognized to have the potential to contribute significantly to
agricultural development. However, research on processing of
the most important perishable staples of Sub-Saharan Africa,
such as cassava, plantain, banana and sweet potato, are often
given little or no priority for international research funding
(CGIAR, 2005). Many years of production-oriented research on
the most perishable African food crops have not led to significant
improvements in yields. Indeed, cassava yield per hectare has
either stagnated or even decreased in many countries of east
and southern Africa.
Rationale of the study
To develop the income-generating potential of cassava as a cash
crop, there are a number of simple market-oriented technologies
that can be used to transform highly perishable fresh roots into
stable market-grade intermediate products, such as chips or
flour for sale as food and as raw materials to various industries.
However, potential private investors often have inadequate
understanding of the microeconomics of the cassava subsector.
They face unfamiliar technologies with unknown investment and
transaction costs, and input and output market uncertainties.
Research on the economics of cassava production, processing
and its marketing has received limited attention, probably
because of the widely held perception that cassava is a lowvalue
food security crop with limited prospects for large-scale
commerce compared to the traditional export crops. This may
be one of the reasons why cassava, despite substantial research
aimed at increasing its productivity, has not been able to lift a
substantial number of farmers out of poverty.
Wide application of value-adding technologies and improved
market outlets will simultaneously increase the adoption of
improved varieties developed through research, improve
food security and farm incomes, and create employment
opportunities in rural areas. One of the benefits of such an
approach to cassava producing communities is a reduction in
imports of cassava products and their substitutes, such as wheat
flour and starch.
To introduce already developed, novel processing technologies
for transforming cassava into products of higher market value
into cassava-dependent communities, it was necessary to
supply the technologies and provide opportunities for local
entrepreneurs to learn the art of cassava processing by doing it
themselves. Such pilot enterprises are also expected to provide
vital data for developing investment guidelines for prospective
entrepreneurs.
Methodological framework
Site selection and setup of processing centers
Six locations were identified for pilot testing based on
development domains for cassava. Maps of market access were
intersected with maps of cassava production potential (Figure
1). The indices for market access were population density, road
networks and market locations, while the indices for production
potential were soils and climate/rainfall/temperature. The
locations were traditional cassava producing communities.
Participating groups of smallholder farmers/processors within
the communities were selected through the collaborative
efforts of the Tanzania Food and Nutrition Center (TFNC), the
Ministry of Agriculture, Food Security and Cooperatives (MAFSC),
the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) the
International Centre for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) and other
partners in Tanzania. Pilot processing facilities were set up with
the selected groups. Model processing machines were provided
on loan to the communities, while they contributed the land and
buildings where the machines were installed. The characteristics
of the pilot centers and the groups of pilot farmers are shown in
Table 1.
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