CSS Project supported farmer gets accolade for best Cassava Seed Entrepreneur
Successful cassava farmer and beneficiary of the Cassava Seed Systems Project (CSS), Mr. Akuttu Augustine recently won an award for “Best Cassava Seed Entrepreneur 2013-2017” under the Cassava Seed Systems Project. Mr. Akutu, a resident of Amuria district in Eastern Uganda was also awarded a certificate of inspection on fulfilling the quality and plant health standards for cassava planting materials. The certificate qualifies him to supply certified cassava stems for planting during the year 2017. He got the two credits in June 2017 this year.
Mr. Akuttu owns over 300 acres of cassava spread out in parts of Amuria, Soroti and Serere districts. Last year, in 2016, he made sales of 170 Million Uganda Shillings from 3500 bags of cuttings sold. This year, he supplied 1275 bags of stems and earned 60 Million Uganda Shillings. He has also been contracted by the Government’s National Agricultural Advisory Services (NAADS) to supply cassava cuttings to neighboring districts including Abim.
His proceeds have been used to among other things, buy more land to expand acreage to grow more cassava, set up new constructions at home and a commercial building in Soroti town.
Mr. Akuttu shows off his accolade and certificate earned from his efforts as a dedicated CSE
Also recognized with a similar certificate is Mr. Sam Opio, another successful Cassava Seed Entrepreneur and owner of Adyaka Farm in Apac district -Northern Uganda. Mr. Opio owns over 150 acres of cassava and is still expanding his acreage with aim to further boost his cassava business but also to ensure sustainable root supply for his cassava Flash drying factory of Adyaka Wholesalers Limited, also located in Apac district.
As a certified seed entrepreneur, Mr. Opio has been contracted to supply cuttings to the Government’s Operation Wealth Creation (OWC) this year, 2017. Also, in 2016, last year he supplied cuttings to OWC and earned 200 Million Uganda Shillings.
Mr. Opio with his certificate of recognition as a certified Cassava Seed Entrepreneur (CSE)
The Cassava Seed Systems Project (CSS) aims to catalyze the establishment of a functional cassava seed system to effectively regulate the production and dissemination of quality cassava planting materials in Uganda so as to improve food security and livelihoods of the small holder farmer through timely and cost effective access to disease free cassava planting materials.
The key implementers of the project are the Africa Innovations Institute (AfrII), National Crops Resources Research Institute (NaCRRI), CHAIN Uganda, BioCrops and the Ministry of Agriculture Animal Industry and Fisheries (MAAIF).
Are the effects of extension services on crop productivity moderated by farmer’s education attainment? Results from 25 Landscapes in Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania and Ghana
This analysis is a result of the collaboration between the eScience Insitute Data Science for Social Good Program and Vital Signs. Learn more about this program here.
Existing studies of farmer field schools (FFS) have found that these programs exhibit a sizable positive effect on per-acre crop productivity value among households with lower educational attainment, with negligible effects on higher-education households[1] [2]. In these analyses, we examined whether a similar effect can be observed when examining a broader set of extension services.Agricultural households in Vital Signs landscapes were therefore asked whether they received extension services in the past 12 months. The categories of extension services used in this study were Agricultural Production, Agro-processing, Marketing, and Livestock Production.
In the analyses,we examined the effects of extension services on crop productivity and if these services were moderated by farmers’ educational attainment. To measure receipt of extension services, we counted the total number of instances in which a given household received advice on any of the topics measured in the Vital Signs dataset. For example, if a household received advice from two sources on Agricultural Production and one source on Agro-processing, we counted that household as having received three extension instances.
For education, previous studies [2] have measured education using educational attainment of the head of the household. However, based on our team’s experience providing and examining extension services in the region, we argue that the maximum individual-level educational attainment represents a better measure. Older household members often receive fewer opportunities to study than their younger counterparts, who may be able to “translate” advice.
Otherwise, to maintain consistency with existing work we attempted to maintain the same set of independent variables as those used in  [2]. In particular, we controlled for country, total area farmed, household size, age of household head, gender of household head, and median household-level field distance to road and market. We also included variables corresponding to field ownership and shared field usage, discretized into “All Owned”/“Some Owned”/“None Owned” and “All Shared”/“Some Shared”/“None Shared”, respectively.
Do female-headed households have less access to agricultural capital and services? results from vital signs data from 26 African landscapes
By Matthew Cooper, Felly Tusiime, Madeleine Nyiratuza, Kame Westerman, Tabby Njung’e, Alice Ruhweza, Peter Alele and Alex Zvoleff
In the struggle to produce more food sustainably, create economic growth, and improve health outcomes across the developing world, women play a pivotal role. Women often assume different agricultural roles than men: they grow more garden crops while men grow more commodity crops and field grains[1]. Women are also generally charged with childcare and eldercare, and pay more attention to household nutrition and child health. At the same time, women also face significant burdens in patriarchal societies where they have less access to land and income. Due to a range of legal and cultural constraints across Africa in land inheritance, ownership, access, control, and use, women make up only about 15 percent of agricultural land holders[2],[3]. However some countries are making more progress than others in the push for equality: in Rwanda, for example, women and men have equal rights to men with regard to land ownership, inheritance, access, control and use.
Vital Signs analyzed data it collected in Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania and Ghana to identify the key differences between female headed households and male headed households. The data Vital Signs has collected supports these narratives. We used data from 820 households – 140 of which were headed by women – to analyze characteristics that were noticeably different between households headed by men and households headed by women. Some of the starkest differences are in women’s access to agricultural capital. Women own and farm smaller areas, and they use fewer pesticides, herbicides, or purchased seeds (see below). This jibes with global data, which shows that female farmers only receive about 5% of agricultural extension services, while only 15% of the world’s extension agents are women[4].
visit the Vital Signs website to read the full post.
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Can forests buffer against malnutrition? evidence from vital signs data monitoring in Uganda
By Matthew Cooper, Tabby Njung’e, Alice Ruhweza, Peter Alele, Felly Tusiime and Julius Okwadi
Many studies have demonstrated how forests and natural areas can improve dietary diversity[1], food security and nutrition[2]. Forests provide a greater variety of foods than agriculture alone[3], and can remain productive even during times of drought and climate stress, when agriculture fails. People in rural parts of the developing world depend directly on forest food products like bushmeat, fruit, nuts, insects, leaves, and honey to provide nutrition[4]. Nonfood products like building materials and medicines can also bolster food security by providing additional sources of income.
The Vital Signs monitoring system, collects and integrates primary and secondary data using standardized protocols and methods including household surveys, vegetation plot measurements and remote sensed data allowing researchers and policymakers to dig further into these trends.
Preliminary Vital Signs results show the role that forest resources play in nutrition and the toll that missing forests take is exemplified in three landscapes in Uganda: Masindi in Western Uganda, Kisoro in the southwest, and Yumbe in the Northwest.
Masindi is one of the most agriculturally productive parts of Uganda – households grow maize and sunflower, as well as cash crops like tobacco and sugarcane. Farmers use ample agricultural inputs like fertilizers and pesticides, and most use ox ploughs, with others preferring tractors. The average household in Masindi produces $341 a year worth of crops with some households producing over $1,000 annually. This high agricultural output means that malnutrition is relatively low with only 22% of children surveyed being stunted.
Source: http://vitalsigns.org/blog/can-forests-buffer-against-malnutrition-evidence-vital-signs-data-monitoring-uganda
Widow highly profitable in HQCF cake production
Betty baking one of her cassava cakes at her bakery site
Betty Ouni is of age 48 years. She belongs to OryemCan Widows and Orphans group. This group comprises of 36 members of which 12 are men.
Her husband died 20 years ago leaving her with their 6 children to singlehandedly care for. She later took into her care 4 orphans. One of the Orphans is doing nursing at Lira Comprehensive with a semester tuition of 2 million shillings while another is doing Computer studies at the Computer Centre in Lira.
Betty embarked on the baking business in 2014 after CAVA trained her in processing HQCF and baking using cassava flour. She is now known by many for her cassava cakes.
She bakes cakes for Introduction ceremonies, Graduation and Birthdays. These different cakes cost 250,000/-, 300,000/- and 50,000 or 80,000/- shillings respectively.
Betty extends this knowledge and skills in baking using HQCF to other women (local and regional), and has focused more on including widows like herself to bake using cassava as an alternative to wheat flour.
Betty with one of the Widows she has extended skills and Knowledge in baking using HQCF
Betty is often invited to train other women groups and farmers in baking. Since 2014, She has trained 390 members in Alebtong in bakery using HQCF and also trained 540 school drop outs in Oyam district.
However, before Betty took on baking, she was more focused in farming as a multi crop farmer (Rice, Cotton, Millet and cassava). She started farming cassava in 2011 and from then, her life has gotten even better.
Today, Betty owns a 34acre garden of NaSE 14 Cassava variety that she planted in March 2016, of planting materials she accessed through AfrII CAVA II/CSS projects.
‘Cassava has supported me to grow other crops like cotton. I grew 4 acres of cotton on land I hired from earnings I made from my processed cassava chips, cakes and stem cuttings that I sold’ remarks Betty.
Betty Ouni in her cassava garden of Nase14 clean seed. This is located in Lira District, Baar sub county
In 2015, she earned Over 4 Million from stem cuttings sold and in 2016, she sold 178 bags of NASE 14 cuttings at 20,000 shillings each to fellow farmers for multiplication.
These farmers are spread out to Kole, Oyam and Dokolo districts.
The farmer group she belongs to has been contracted to supply over 2000 bags of stems of NASE 14 to operation wealth creation in April 2017 this year. They intend to sell these at about 40-45,000 shillings per bag.
Betty’s achievements are even bigger. She has established a commercial building in Baar, for which she has big plans.
“This building cost me 16 Million shillings and I am still spending more on it. All the 3 rooms will serve different purposes. one room is a store for my harvest and processed HQCF Grits and Flour, the other is for my baked products while for the other room, I intend to stock it up with herbicides (non-selective and selective)” Betty Processes about 12 tons in a month of HQCF and supplies to the local markets.
Betty proudly shows off her millions worth commercial building.
She intends to construct another structure of which part of the building will be a better housing spot for her and the children. She also wants to buy a Motor cycle to ease transportation. She makes deliveries to far distances of which transport costs are high.
Betty in the house that her late husband left her in. She has never demolished it for memory of how far she has come.
“When you are a widow, people think you cannot survive on your own without a husband to take care of you. I am a living example that you can always make it in life, even after you are left all alone with children to have to feed and educate.
I am glad for the far I have come since CAVA II Uganda discovered me, the knowledge and skills development extended to me by this project have made me who I am today. A successful widow’ remarks Betty appreciatively”.
A man’s efforts in cassava production earn him big profits
Started small, grew bigger and is now ranked the leading Cassava seed multiplier in the whole of East Africa.
Mr. Akutu Augustine of 54 years is married with 9 children. Farming has given him a life he had never imagined. He has been able to educate his children, set up a firm home and gone beyond, to become a man of great influence within the community. His passion for farming stems from his upbringing. “my father was a farmer but he was more into cattle rearing. He never put in much effort in cassava farming, in fact he never encouraged it. I however changed it all, back in 1978 when I embarked on a new journey and took to farming cassava. I was a boy then but, look, 39 years later, this is how much I have achieved from cassava”remarks Akutu. ‘By the way, back when I was in school, I never liked any of the other subjects except Maths. I was a man of numbers and now I am counting money from my efforts in cassava production.” He chuckles after this remark.
Mr. Akutu poses with his good harvest of the NaROCASS 1 root from his cassava garden
Mr. Akutu owns 16 acres of NaSE 14 and another 84 acres of NaROCASS 1 on his farm in Acumu, Amuria district. Additionally, Akutu has cleared an additional 122 acres of land on the farm to expand his multiplication of clean cassava seed.
Mr. Akutu with his wife and their first born son on their newly purchased 120acre piece of land for multiplication of NaROCASS 1 and NaSE 14 cassava varieties
Mr.Akutu and his wife holding one of the donkeys that is used to plough their land before cultivation
As a model farmer, the community now turns to him for advice on cassava production, both in processing and farming. He has reached out to over 1,000 farmers in Amuria District and beyond. “Cassava is giving me good record, even at home. I train other farmers in good agronomic practices, and even avail them knowledge and skills in processing to obtain High quality cassava flour. In a week, I get at least 30 farmers coming to see me to learn. Since 2013 when AfrII discovered me and extended such knowledge, I have since become a ‘big’ man”
“Beyond just availing knowledge, my wife and I support fellow community members in times of hardships for example, when a neighbor loses a loved one, we give them both dried and fresh cassava to cater for food. We have also created employment because people come to peel cassava for us when we are going to process, from this, they earn some good money to keep them going. Also, by hiring a Vehicle to transport my cassava from my garden in Amucu to home where we do the processing, this is money for the owners of that vehicle.” His cassava garden is about 20 Kms from his home.
In addition, due to the ongoing hunger badly affecting the region, Mr. Akuttu says he is assisting whenever he can by giving out some root to the farmers that approach him in plight of hunger.
In 2016, Mr. Akutu sold 6000 bags of stem cuttings that earned him about 40 Million Uganda Shillings. He sold an additional 330 bags that earned him about 30 Million Uganda shillings. Each bag goes 30,000 Uganda shillings.
This year 2017, he has been given an LPO to supply 481 bags of cassava stem cuttings to Abim District. This deal is yet to be another breakthrough for Mr. Akutu and his family.
Apart from multiplying cassava, Mr. Akutu is also a prominent processor of High Quality Cassava Chips (HQCC) using a chipper he acquired through the CAVA II Project. “I have bigger dreams. I want to establish a cassava factory in Amuria because today, we have a lot of farmers that have taken to farming cassava on bigger pieces of land. Now, with all this cassava, why can’t I, Akutu, set up a cassava factory for it? Smiles Akutu.
Mr. Akuttu has also expressed interest inpurchasing the inflatable mobile solar dryer for his processed cassava chips. He intends to work closely with the CAVA II Uganda project team at AfrII, to get this new technology.
Mr. Akutu and his wife (with head scarf) join in on the work to peel cassava for processing HQCC
The Africa Innovations Institute (AfrII), through its Commodity Value Chains Programme is implementing the CAVA II Project which is promoting commercialization of cassava through the uptake of High Quality Cassava Flour (HQCF) into high end markets within Uganda.
The HQCF, is a versatile highly competitive cassava product being promoted for use by industries in Uganda and other African countries including Tanzania, Malawi, Nigeria and Ghana.
C: AVA II Uganda intends to create an annual demand for 69,030 tons of fresh cassava roots by 2019 by increasing smallholder farmers’ cassava productivity, expanding and developing cassava processing and expanding cassava product options, market opportunities and geographies.
The C: AVA II project is also being implemented by 4 other countries of Nigeria, Tanzania, Ghana, and Malawi.
He has also purchased 120 acres of land at his home on which he intends to multiply more of NaROCASS 1 and NaSE 14 cassava varieties.
Farmers in Northern Uganda embrace new Simsim (Sesame) varieties for improved yield
‘I want to multiply more of the SimSim 2 variety starting this year’- Olot David
Mr. Olot David is an oil seeds farmer from Agweng Sub-county in Lira District. He is 62 years old and his wife, Hellen Akullu is 52 years old. The couple is blessed with 10 surviving children.
As a prominent oil seed farmer, Mr. Olot was one of the 8 host farmers selected to participate in the experimental trials. He has embraced the new technologies extended to him through the Sesame Project to increase his yield.
After partaking in the trial experiments, Mr. Olot this year plans to grow more of the Simsim 2 (Sesim 2) variety on his 5acre piece of land in Agweng. He accounts his observations of the crop on the field; “Sesim 2 performed very well in the field. The variety has given good yield compared to the others” remarks Olot.
The trial experiments extended to him through AfrII’s Sesame Project dubbed ‘Stabilizing Sesame Yields and Production in the Lango region, Northern Uganda’ have helped him appreciate the use of fertilizer for higher yields.
“This Sesim 2 on which fertilizer was applied is really good and has high tolerance to pests and diseases, and also when sprayed, it gives a better yield” adds Olot. “When I weighed, the yield samples of the Sesim 2 variety, showed that the yield on which fertilizer was applied was 3.5 kgs, while that on which no fertilizer was applied weighed 2.9kgs which proves the need to multiply more of this variety” adds Olot.
The money he will earn from the harvest will be used for school fees and also acquiring more land to expand his farming plans. He also plans to supply good seed to his fellow farmers within and across the region.
He advised fellow Oil Seed farmers to practice good agronomic practices like planting their seeds in rows for this helps in easy weeding, and also gives reasonable yield. On adoption of improved varieties, he further advised them to concentrate on farming improved seed rather than the local variety as this is badly affected by drought, and also pests and diseases like gall midge and Webworm.
Apart from Simsim (Sesame), Mr. Olot also farms other crops like Maize, Soya Beans, and Sunflower. He has been actively engaged in farming for 42 years and this has seen him acquire land in Lira town on which he constructed 2 buildings, one of which is used for rentals. He also acquired land in Agweng town and constructed a building that houses his Agro-Input Dealers business.
He is currently the Chairperson of Agweng Farmers Cooperative Society that comprises 1228 farmers of which 30% are women.
Crop scientists initiate climate smart innovations to improve simsim (sesame).
Sesame has small nutritious seeds, is a very important oil crop, and is valued for its high quality oils (44% to 52%). However, despite its high value and potential, sesame has received less development attention with its Production characterized by low yields and low productivity. This is as a result of the impact of frequent extreme weather events (droughts, unpredictable seasons, or too much rainfall). Use of traditional varieties and management practices, Poor pests and diseases control practices, declining soil fertility, Pre and post-harvest losses are other factors affecting the crops productivity.
In Uganda, about 250,000 smallholder farmers are engaged in sesame production with about 101,000 Mt from an area of 176,000 ha. The biggest percentage of this production, 93.7% is realized from northern Uganda.
It is therefore against such background that crop scientists led by the Africa Innovations Institute (AfrII) formed an alliance to introduce the Sesame Project dubbed -Stabilizing Sesame Yields and Production in the Lango Region- Northern Uganda, that aims at improving livelihoods of the Simsim (Sesame) farmers.
Through this research focused project, drought tolerant sesame varieties have been evaluated and released and also innovations in gall midge and webworm control have been effected. The released clean materials are taken to farmer’s fields for comparison with the farmer seed/local variety.
“When you compare, Yield, from the released varieties outstands that from the local farmers’ variety. The local variety also succumbs very much to webworm which is why our research on the Sesame crop is very important because the improved varieties are tolerant to drought and also resistant to pest and diseases” says the Sesame Project Coordinator, Mr. Francis Alacho from the Africa Innovations Institute (AfrII).
Experimental trials have been conducted and released varieties of Simsim2 and 3 (Sesim 2 and 3) distributed to farmers to give them chance to select among the released varieties which is most suitable for them. They are then to compare the performance and make a selection that they will adopt basing on the crop yield and resistance to pests and diseases.
Photo: The released SimSim 2 (Sesema2) variety that is drought tolerant
“We have extended our research on the Simsim (Sesame) crop to the farmers so that they can own it for their benefit. When they are part of the whole process, they get to appreciate and embrace new technologies and innovations for better farming. They will also closely monitor the performance of the crop when on the field and see what it in turn gives them, when they harvest” adds Mr. Alacho
8 host farmers for the experiments that were conducted mid 2016 last year, were selected from the different parts of Otuke, Lira and Amolatar Districts, the Project operation areas.
On the different trial plots, some were treated with fungicides (spray) while the fertilizer trials were for evaluating different fertilizer rates to establish which rates/ combination of fertilizer gives better /high yields (these different fertilizers are used at different combinations).
The Sesame project is a consortium comprising of the National Semi Arid Resources Research Institute (NaSARRI), Uganda Oilseeds Producers and Processors Association (UOSPPA), FICA Seeds Ltd and Africa Innovations Institute (AfrII) as the lead implementer.
Cassava farming saves farmers from trekking miles to access water
The Awuco family, 77-year-old Victor and 57-year-old Phoebe Awuco, cassava farmers of Alito sub county in Kole District, Northern Uganda are enjoying the benefits of investing in value addition of the cassava crop and have recently constructed an underground water tank from earnings they saved from cassava production. The couple has been travelling a distance of 2 Kilo meters to fetch / access water for use during the processing of cassava.
They delightfully shared their moment of bliss of their new innovation “We spent nearly 1 million Uganda Shillings of our savings from cassava to construct this water tank and we are content with this new development for we no longer have to walk many kilo meters to get water with which to use to wash the fresh cassava roots, as well as rinse and soak the roots before processing them to obtain HQCC and flour. The water for all this is now right in our back yard” (Both smile)
Mr. Awuco then adds “It has not been a smooth road but we have managed, my wife is very supportive in each step of the way”
Blessed with 3 children of their own and 8 grandchildren, the Awuco family is greatly benefitting from farming cassava and have also realized the benefits of conducting business in cassava processing following the successes that have come along with this.
The couple’s first achievement from cassava farming and processing was a motorcycle they purchased back in 2014. The motorcycle has since eased their transportation challenges to easily access the market where they sell their cassava flour, and also purchase other household requirements like food stuffs.
The Awuco’s have also been able to finance the education of their grandchildren to as far as university level through cassava farming “Cassava has greatly improved our household livelihoods. We are able to buy food, cater for medical expenses and also take our grandchildren to school. Our eldest grandson has been admitted to Kyambogo University this year 2016 to study electrical engineering. This is great for us as a family” Mr. Awuco recounts.
The couple has been farming cassava for 3 years and in May 2016 this season, they set up a 1acre demonstration garden of the Narocass1 cassava seed variety. They have been growing the Nase14 cassava variety since 2013.
The couple is also a member of Alito Cassava Farmer Growers Association and Community Processing Group (CPG) that is supported by AfrII under the CAVA II project. The Alito cassava processing site was commissioned in 2014 by the Africa Innovations Institute (AfrII) at the commencement of the second phase of the Cassava: Adding Value for Africa (CAVA II) project.
The Awuco’s acknowledged CAVA II Uganda for the support extended ‘We are grateful to CAVA II for their contribution and also appreciate the work they are extending to us at the community through the CAVA II project in as far as providing us access to new technologies aimed to promote cassava production”
The Cassava: Adding Value for Africa Phase Two (CAVA II) Project supports value addition in cassava and commercialization of cassava in Africa. In Uganda, the CAVA II project has successfully developed value chains for High Quality Cassava Flour (HQCF) by supporting investors to establish HQCF processing sites in Eastern, Northern and Central Uganda. The project beneficiaries include among others, small holder farmers, Small and Medium Enterprises and selected actors working on cassava value chains.
CAVA II’s purpose is to increase the incomes of 23,010 Small Holder Framers (SHFs) and community processors through participation in profitable and sustainable value added cassava chains in Uganda and is being implemented in 18 districts of Pallisa, Kibuku, Budaka, Bukedea, Kumi, Soroti, Ngora, Serere, Dokolo, Nakaseke, Nakasongola, Lira, Apac, Otuke, Oyam, Kole and Alebtong.
The project is also being implemented in 4 other African countries of Nigeria, Ghana, Tanzania, and Malawi.
