Support to small farmers through the increased value of the cassava’s production

PROJECT

By means of this project, ACAV wants to realize a cassava tubers working centre at the service of small farmers, refugees and of the host community. The centre will be realized by the agricultural institute of JAVIK, a school serving the whole region, which will also value the demo component.

Through this intervention, ACAV wants to improve the farmers’ income supporting them in the post-harvest management in order to enhance the product selling on local markets.

In the specific case of cassava, the traditional system of post-harvest tubers treatment is to be improved. It established, indeed, the manual peeling, dehydration in the sun on simple towels and the grinding for flour production in extremely poor environmental and hygienic conditions.

Where: Africa, Uganda, West Nile sub-region, Koboko District

Local partners: Koboko District, Jabara Agriculture Vocational Institute of Koboko (JAVIK)

CONTEXT

At the end of 2019, 1.381.122 refugees could be counted in Uganda. The situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo and in South Sudan remains unstable.

Koboko District, at the border with South Sudan and with the Democratic Republic of Congo, hosts 5.380 refugees. This number does not include the number of self-settled refugees who settled themselves in various sub-counties of the Koboko District. The exact number of self-settled refugees is estimated to be 23.000, about the 35,4% of the total population (VNG Survey Report 2019).

Koboko District is characterized by a high level of poverty, by a high rate of youth unemployment and by a vast gender imbalance. The great majority of the population lives on subsistence farming which is characterized by a low production and profitability.

Small farmers are further limited by scarce access to high quality agricultural inputs, low capacity of plants’ protection; low agricultural machinery, difficulty in accessing to credit, lack of storage facilities, scarce added value, weak market’s connection, rural infrastructures and inefficient assistance service in the supply of technical and commercial consultancy.

The influx of hundreds of thousands of Congolese and South Sudanese refugees over the last few years has caused a heavy pressure on the existing social services, on natural resources and on livelihood opportunities both for refugees and for host communities.

WHAT ARE WE DOING?

Main objective: Strengthening livelihood for small farmers, in particular for women (refugees and host community) through a better management of post-harvest and market’s connections.

Specific objectives:

1. Strengthening the collective action of 1.000 farmers (refugees and host farmers);

2. Improving post-harvest management practices by promoting the adoption of post-harvest substainable technologies by small farmers, groups and other actors in the value chain;

3. Increasing the access to the market for groups and farmers’ organizations.

WHO ARE WE WORKING WITH?

The direct beneficiaries are 1.000 male and female farmers among refugees and Ugandan host community’s members.

The indirect beneficiaries will be their families and the community more in general.

OUR ACTIVITIES

• Small farmers’ training on good agronomic and post-harvest practices.

• Raising awareness, providing training and tutoring on investment opportunities in the various value chains of cassava.

• Innovating, adapting and promoting processing technology, efficient cassava’s exsiccation and low fossil fuel consumption whenever possible.

• Facilitating encounters and creating commercial opportunities among small productors, processors and final consumers.

• Strengthening the supply chain, improving quality and ensuring tracking along value chains of cassava.

• Sharing of information and knowledge.

The centre will be equipped with a bulb chipper, a press dehydrator, a hydraulic jack, a cassava’s mill, a solar dehydrator, lifted driers, basins, knives, a weigher, a stapler, a marking machine, yuta bags…

The project will adopt 4 intervention’s key points in the private sector: •Partnerships with strategic buyers; •Co-investments in the storage and post-harvest systems; •Partnerships and connections with credit institutions in order to face working capital financing constraints; •Post-harvest management support and farmers’ organization.

SUSTAINABILITY

The fact of working together with District and County’s local authorities and strengthening at the same time their capacities, provides an integrated sustainability mechanism for the project even beyond its duration.

Technical and financial assistance, which is aimed at the mobilization, organization and farmers’ strengthening through some interventions related to skills’ consolidation, post-harvest practices improvement and incentive in the market access will lead to an increase related to farmers’ groups and farmers’ organizations in order to support each other even beyond the project.

The centre will be dedicated to our partner and friend Gioacchino Trentinaglia, whopassedaway on 08/07/2020.