Business
Cameroun Double Cassava Yield Following IITA Intervention
Camerounian farmers participating in the “National de Developpement des Racines et Tubercules (PNDRT)’’ programme have doubled cassava yield using improved cassava planting materials from the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Ibadan.
A statement from the institute, made available to newsmen on Friday, showed that current cassava production in Cameroun was estimated at 2.3 million tonnes.
”From 10 tonnes per hectare, farmers are now harvesting between 25 tonnes and 30 tonnes per hectare,” the statement quoted Ngue Bissa Thomas, the National Coordinator, PNDRT, as saying during the presentation of cassava chipping machines to beneficiaries of the programme in Cameroun .
He noted that IITA had produced improved cassava varieties resistant to diseases, pests, with low cyanide content, short crop cycle, high yield, and in some cases, resistant to drought.
”Our next challenge is processing and the creation of markets for cassava farmers to avoid glut,’’ he said, adding that the 100 processing machines had been developed under the programme in collaboration with the IITA.
The statement said the machines would ease the drudgery associated with cassava processing in rural Cameroun.
Funded by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD ) , the PNDRT project involved 250 villages across Cameroun , the statement said.
It said the beneficiaries had expressed joy with the introduction of the project.
Mrs. Nke Susanne, the President of the Rural Consultative Committee of Minkoa, a women farmer group, said: “We are happy with the implementation of this project because it has improved cassava production in our community.
”More importantly, the current introduction of chipping machines will ease processing.”
Susanne expressed optimism that the processing equipment would enhance value addition, create more marketing options, avoid glut and make cassava more profitable.
The IITA Country Representative in Cameroon, Dr. Rachid Hanna, said the chipping machines was a novel technology developed by the Institute as “a processing option to reduce the bulk of cassava, extend its shelf life, and reduce transportation cost while adding value and creating markets for the root crop.