Cassava (*Manihot esculenta* Crantz, family Euphorbiaceae), is a tropical root crop that tolerates uncertain rainfall, long dry periods, and poor soil. Cassava is a source of food, livestock feed, and income generation for some 800 million people, for whom it also holds strategic potential as a famine reserve crop. Cassava also has attracted interest as a bio-energy crop with potential as a cash crop for smallholders.

Africa produces over 50% of the world’s cassava, but the continent lags behind global peers in productivity. Cassava is popular with African farmers because it is amenable to mixed cropping, with processing and infrastructure technology firmly embedded in many local and regional food systems. Surplus production coupled with growing industrial demand has stimulated commercial exploitation of the root. In turn, improved varieties, mechanization, and agronomic practices have become focal points in boosting Africa’s cassava yield curve.

The Improved Agronomic Practices for Cassava Production assignment was initiated in Ghana, West Africa by ACDI/VOCA under USAID’s Farmer-To-Farmer Program (F2F) authorized by the U.S. Congress in the Farm Bill. Primary in-country host was Caltech Ventures Limited (CVL), a commercial producer of cassava starch, flour, and starting 2015,ethanol. CVL has 3,000 hectares of farmland in the Volta region near Ho, of which 350 hectares are under cultivation either by CVL directly, or by outgrowers who produce cassava for CVL under agreement in exchange for crop inputs and marketing support. The objectives for this assignment were to: (1) assess the current practices of CVL’s farm and that of their outgrowers and provide recommendations for improvement; (2) based on the assessment, train staff on best practices to boost production; (3) train CVL on how to mechanize their operation; and (4) make recommendations on any other professional support that will strengthen the CVL in its operations.

Composting has come a long way since the days of Sir Albert Howard and the Indore experiments. Once an arcane, if faintly suspect practice of organic farmers and gardeners, composting has evolved into a full-fledged science with built-in engineering controls that make the composting process predictable and much more efficient. Material properties like carbon to nitrogen ratio (C:N ratio), bulk density, moisture, and porosity influence microbial decomposition of waste material in compost. Knowledge of the optimal conditions for organic decomposition ensures efficient bioconversion of waste products so that they can be beneficially and safely used as fertilizers and soil conditioners.

The Improved Composting Production and Technology Project (BAN320) was initiated in Bangladesh under The John Ogonowski-Doug Bereuter Farmer-to-Farmer Program jointly administered by USAID and Winrock International. This Project aimed to (1) provide training in improved compost preparation in Bangladesh; (2) build capacity for composting as an environmentally sound method of converting agro- and municipal solid waste into useful products; and (3) increase awareness of the role of organic matter in sustaining soil productivity. The Project’s primary in-country host was Bismillah Fish and Poultry Farm (BFP), an integrated agro-based enterprise comprising fish and prawn culture, 20,000 poultry layers with a capacity for up to 40,000 birds, cow fattening and milking, and vegetable growing. Local traditional methods are used for composting poultry manure, cow dung, and other waste, which largely remains unused due to a lack of better knowledge. BFP also wants to increase composting capacity by using different types of locally available raw materials (cow dung, water hyacinth, farm by-products, etc.) and marketing their excess compost fertilizer. The compost will be used as a fertilizer and soil conditioner for vegetables and other crops in the Khulna region. Click on the image tiles below to access the Project’s documents.