Cassava: Food Crop to Commercial Cash Crop through Value Addition, Research and Development (R&D)

The importance of cassava in Ghana cannot be denied. Apart from being the main ingredient of daily staple food enjoyed in many Ghanaian households - fufu, akple, to some extent gari, Cassava has undoubtedly proven itself to be a resilient and food security crop, though regarded by many to be a reserve crop for the poor. It has commendable abilities to resist many diseases, can grow well in relatively infertile lands and can endure the harshest of weather conditions (droughts and flooding which are common characteristics in Ghana’s geographical landscape) and still thrive.

In consideration of all the plethora of qualities and prospects the cassava plant presents, different establishments have come up with various programmes which particularly focus on improving the outputs, value addition, incomes and living standards of subsistence farmers in the country. One of such programmes, The Root and Tuber Improvement and Marketing Programme (RTIMP), was introduced in 2007 and wrapped up in 2014. The programme was funded by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the Government of Ghana (GoG). RTIMP was an upgrade of the Root and Tuber Improvement Programme (RTIP) which was implemented over 1995 to 2005 and sought to develop crop production through research and extension. The programme aimed to build competitive and market-based root and tuber commodity chains (gari, yam, plywood cassava flour and high quality cassava flour) which are supported by relevant, effective and sustainable services that are easily accessible to the rural poorii. Processing and marketing were main emphasis of RTIMP. The goal of the programme was to enhance income and food security through strengthening root and tuber based livelihoods of small scale farmers and processors with special attention to women and youth.