CBN-V Video Archives - S1-10
How can Cassava Farmers Harness the Emerging Market Opportunities in Malawi?

Kathundu C.¹ and L. Chiwona-Karltun²

1. Mana Farm Bakeries, PO Box 66, Domasi, Malawi
2. Karolinska Institutet, IHCAR, Stockholm, Sweden Linley.Karltun@Nutrition.uu.se

        Our previous research shows that in Malawi, cassava is traditionally an important famine-reserve crop with maize the preferred staple. But when the maize crop fails cassava is the crop that helps many households to survive the frequent food shortages that occur in Malawi. Farmers are increasingly realising, however, that cassava can be an important cash crop produced and processed for sale to urban consumers. But farmers wishing to produce and process cassava as a cash crop for sale to urban consumers are constrained by poor road access to the urban market centres, and high cassava production and processing costs which are due to the stone-age cassava production and processing technologies used in Malawi. In areas where road access to market centres is poor, farmers produce cassava mainly for home consumption. Among the producing households in those areas, cassava is a staple food. Without cassava, many families would simply starve. However, in areas where farmers have good road access to market centres such as the urban centres or the zones where industrial crops such as tobacco, tea, and coffee are produced, the cassava farmers have more opportunities. They sell to urban consumers or to the industrial crop farmers and to seasonal migrant workers. In addition, the farmers process cassava as dried roots, flour or alcohol.

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