The
Rockefeller Foundation, Dalberg, and IITA on March 29, 2017 in Nairobi announced
the results of the Cassava Innovation Challenge, launched last year to uncover novel solutions
for increasing cassava shelf life in Nigeria and the world. The organizers are
awarding the Natural Resources Institute (NRI), based at the University of
Greenwich, United Kingdom, in partnership with the Federal University of
Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNAAB), Nigeria, with a grant of up to $500,000, along with
technical assistance, to test and market a polythene bag with a built-in curing
technology that will keep cassava fresh for at least eight days past harvest. The
announcement was made at the first All Africa Post-Harvest Congress in Nairobi.
Cassava is critical for food security
in Africa. It is the main source of nutrition for an estimated half of the
continent’s population, or 500 million people. Yet this root crop has a very
short shelf life, and if unprocessed it will spoil within 24-72 hours after
harvesting less if it is damaged during harvesting or transport. Nigeria is the
world’s largest cassava producer, accounting for more than 20% of global
production – more than 50 million tons annually, grown by nearly 30 million
farmers, most of them with less than an acre of land.
Approximately 40% of this cassava is
lost due to spoilage, a tremendous problem that limits farmer incomes and rural
economic development, and one that stretches far beyond Nigeria’s borders as
food spoilage and wastage affects the global economy and impacts greenhouse gas
emissions.
“We were encouraged when we received
more than 600 applications from 32 countries with ideas for how to solve this
problem of a short shelf life for cassava. Clearly a lot of people care about food
security and ensuring that a vital staple crop is not lost to rotting due to
lack of preservation technology,” said Mamadou Biteye, OBE, Managing
Director for Africa at The Rockefeller Foundation. “Upon the
recommendation of our expert judges, we are investing in NRI’s bagging
technology in part because we see farmers using bags with great success to
store other perishable crops. Now is the time to try this for cassava. We know
that when farmers win, we all win.”
The challenge is part of yield wise. The Rockefeller Foundation’s $130 million
initiative launched in January 2016, aimed at reducing food loss by at least
50% by 2030 in representative value chains. Research has found that
post-harvest loss reduction solutions exist, but they are not reaching the
farmers who need them. With the farmer in mind, the Foundation is promoting a
variety of interventions in the areas of education, technologies, financing and
market solutions to ensure production is linked to demand, and so improving
livelihoods, creating less vulnerable ecosystems and natural resources, and
increasing food availability.
“Over the past five years, we have
led numerous projects on the cassava value chain and designed facilities to
invest in cassava across Africa. We have kept running into the number one
constraint in cassava – its short shelf life,” said Nneka Eze, Partner and
Co-Lead, Agriculture & Food Security Practice at Dalberg Global Development
Advisors. “Over the past year, Dalberg designed the Challenge in
partnership with IITA and The Rockefeller Foundation, reviewed over 600
applications, and coordinated inputs from our diverse group of expert judges.
We are excited about the potential of NRI’s simple bagging solution to impact
lives in Nigeria and in Africa, where more than half the world’s cassava is
produced.”
“IITA is pleased to be part of this
initiative to identify a workable and effective solution to this post-harvest
problem in cassava, especially in Nigeria, being the world’s biggest cassava
producer, where about 14% of the produce is lost annually on average. Providing
a solution to reducing post harvest loss in this crop would potentially provide
annually more than $200 million to the cassava value chain,” said Nteranya
Sanginga, IITA’s Director General.
The Rockefeller Foundation Cassava Innovation
Challenge launch was based on input from those involved in the cassava value
chain as to what could most help reduce post-harvest loss. The challenge
posed an optimistic goal of finding a novel, transformative, scalable, and
easy-to-use solution. More than 600 applications were received. A panel of 21
judges from around the world, including Nigerian cassava experts, recommended a
short list based on The Rockefeller Foundation’s criteria for innovation.
The complexity of preventing
cassava’s quickness to rot made it difficult for any one solution to excel at
all of the criteria. But among the many very good ideas submitted, a straightforward
solution – bags – rose to the top of the judge’s recommendations as the one
that most warranted further support. The judges weighed likely efficacy along
with ease of low cost of production in Nigeria and, most importantly, appeal to
farmers. Greenwich University NRI and FUNAAB polythene bag would be available
in a range of sizes, for different value chain actors and are intended to
prevent post-harvest physiological deterioration until the fresh cassava can be
processed or transported for sale at the fresh market.
The Rockefeller Foundation’s mission
has been to promote the well-being of humanity throughout the world. Today, The
Rockefeller Foundation pursues this mission through dual goals: advancing
inclusive economies that expand opportunities for more broadly shared
prosperity, and building resilience by helping people, communities and
institutions prepare for, withstand, and emerge stronger from acute shocks and
chronic stresses. To achieve these goals, The Rockefeller Foundation works at
the intersection of four focus areas – advance health, revalue ecosystems,
secure livelihoods, and transform cities – to address the root causes of
emerging challenges and create systemic change. Together with partners and
grantees, The Rockefeller Foundation strives to catalyse and scale
transformative innovations, create unlikely partnerships that span sectors, and
take risks others cannot or will not.
Dalberg Global Development Advisor is a
strategic advisory firm exclusively dedicated to global development and
innovation. Their mission is to mobilize effective responses to the world’s
most pressing issues and to raise living standards in developing countries.
From their network of 16 global offices, they serve clients to make sustainable
improvements in the lives of disadvantaged and undeserved populations around
the world.
The International Institute of
Tropical Agriculture (IITA) is a not-for-profit institution that generates
agricultural innovations to meet Africa’s most pressing challenges of hunger,
malnutrition, poverty, and natural resource degradation. Working with various
partners across sub-Saharan Africa, they improve livelihoods, enhance food and
nutrition security, increase employment, and preserve natural resource
integrity. IITA is a member of CGIAR, a global agriculture research partnership
for a food-secure future.
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