Hundreds of farmers trained on new cassava

17 August 2012

Project staff have been extremely busy in recent months organising training for farmers on the new disease-resistant cassava variety we have introduced.

Our introduction of the new disease-resistant cassava has already begun to transform the lives of smallholder farmers and their families. Unlike the previous cassava variety that was decimated by the Mosaic virus, the new disease-resistant variety we have introduced is ensuring that farmers now have enough cassava for their families to eat and to sell.

We are now building on that success by training more farmers in how to plant and cultivate the new cassava variety so that as many people as possible in the area have enough to eat.

In just three months this year we have trained 573 farmers (62% of whom are women) on the new disease-resistant cassava variety.

An important part of the training has included learning to identify the various diseases that can affect cassava. We have worked hard with farmers to improve their awareness of diseases that can destroy cassava and how to identify and prevent them.

As well as learning how to look after their new cassava plants, farmers have also been learning new skills that will help them market and sell their surplus crops more effectively. Collective marketing and selling is an important factor in getting the best market price. We have therefore recently trained 419 farmers (64% of them women) in group dynamics and techniques for working collectively so that they can form strong farmers’ associations and increase their bargaining and selling power.