NAKURU, Kenya, July 1 — As Kenya grapples with the effects of climate change, rising food insecurity and growing youth unemployment, cassava is increasingly being recognised as one of the country’s most promising but under-utilised economic crops.

📻 Breaking It Down

Traditionally viewed as a subsistence crop, cassava is now emerging as a strategic solution for strengthening food security, improving nutrition, creating jobs and supplying raw materials for various industries.

Despite its growing importance, Kenya currently produces about 1.2 million metric tonnes of cassava annually against an estimated national demand of nearly three million metric tonnes, forcing the country to rely on imports from neighbouring Uganda and Tanzania.

According to Prof. Richard Mulwa, the Cassava Value Chain Lead under the TAGDev 2.0 Program at Egerton University, bridging the production gap presents significant opportunities for farmers, agribusinesses and investors while reducing Kenya’s dependence on imports.

📌 What You Need to Know

Mulwa says the TAGDev 2.0 Program is working to transform cassava into a commercially viable and climate-smart value chain through research, farmer training and enterprise development.

The initiative equips farmers with improved drought-tolerant cassava varieties, climate-smart agriculture techniques, Good Agricultural Practices (GAP), post-harvest handling skills and value-addition technologies.

“By linking research, farmer training and enterprise development, the program is helping communities adapt to climate change while at the same time creating sustainable livelihood opportunities,” says Mulwa.

For Thomas Maina, a smallholder farmer in Njoro, Nakuru County, the initiative has transformed both his farming practices and household income.

After years of struggling with declining maize yields and food shortages, Maina joined the program and adopted improved cassava farming methods that significantly boosted production.

“There was a major change after the training because we learned better farming methods and received improved cassava varieties that increased production,” he says.

📰 Source: Capital FM Kenya