Abstract

Historically cassava is implicated as a cause of malnutrition and a poor provider of protein. Today cassava remains an important staple crop for a half billion people worldwide. The objectives of these studies are to research and support market–oriented development of cassava, value–added cassava products, and market outlets among an HIV/AIDS affected community. In response to our studies in Participatory Varietal Selection (PVS), over 500 farmers formed Cassava Clubs for improved production, processing, and value–added cassava products. Members selected according to the community’s own criteria, included village–based HIV/AIDS organisations offering care and peer counselling, youths at high risk of HIV contraction, AIDS orphans and widows. Together with entrepreneurs and national scientists, farmers have successfully managed one and a half cycles of PVS, returning community preferred varieties back into farmer–managed trials and Club multiplication plots. In addition to private benefits, they have banked over US$ 500 of net profits as community assets and registered a company, Cassava Roots and Tubers Enterprise Ltd. (CMRTE), as the vehicle for commercial exploitation of cassava. IITA/SARRENET is supporting the establishment of a CMRTE–led kondowole business including labour saving processing machines. Research input has tracked the process, and the technical, economic, and social results using a range of methods including action researching, surveys, and objective measurements. Results show that community–led responses have the potential to resolve the links between HIV/AIDS, labour erosion, and nutrition. Root crops such as cassava should not be automatically implicated in the “new variant famine” hypothesis as has recently been suggested. Key words: Cassava; community participation; HIV/AIDS; labour–saving technologies; new variant famine; Malawi; malnutrition; marketing; participatory varietal selection (PVS)

Published in

Publisher: IFPRI

Conference

HIV/AIDS, Food and Nutrition Security

SLU Authors

• Karltun, Linley Chiwona

  • Department of Rural Development and Agroecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

UKÄ Subject classification

Food Science


Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/7464