Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
has contributed immensely to Agricultural Development in Africa. This
foundation is one of the biggest funder of Agricultural Development Projects in
Africa. Many projects have been established through this foundation and have transformed
the livelihood of rural farmers and helped improve their farm productivity
through their various approaches and programmes. One of the Projects that is helping
to transform Africa’s Agriculture is C:AVA.
C:AVA simply means,
Cassava Adding Value for Africa. This project initially started in 2008 with
the aims of developing value chains for HQCF (High Quality Cassava Flour),
giving useful recommendation to governments and agencies involved in
agriculture and boosting the income of local farmers. These cut across five
African Countries; Nigeria, Ghana, Tanzania, Uganda and Malawi. This project
has produced significant result in Nigeria’s Agriculture. C:AVA has their
office at Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Ogun state Nigeria.
Nigeria Government in
an effort to reduce wheat import bill valued at N 635 billion in 2013 has mandated
all Master Bakers to include High Quality Cassava Flour (HQCF) in their daily
production. This approach has boosted local Cassava production and farmers’ lives are
getting better.
Phase Two of C:AVA project
called C:AVA II was recently launched at Lagos Airport Hotel, Ikeja, Lagos on Tuesday
22, April, 2014. The project director is Dr Kolawole Adebayo. The CAVA II aims to
increase the incomes of smallholder farmers and community processors through
participation in profitable and sustainable value-added cassava chains in
five sub-Saharan African Countries (Nigeria, Ghana, Tanzania, Uganda and
Malawi).
“CAVA II project will
span for five years (2014-2019) with the premise that if new markets for cassava can be developed and smallholders
linked to them at scale, then farmers will increase their incomes and adopt new
productivity enhancing technologies” Dr. Adebayo said.
“The C:AVA project will contribute to Nigeria’s Cassava Transformation
Agenda. Cassava Transformation Agenda is developed with a view to commercialize
the cassava industry in five different value chains; which are High Quality
Cassava Flour (HQCF), Cassava Chips, Cassava Starch, and Ethanol/Glucose Syrup”
Dr Akinwumi Adesina disclosed during his speech at the launching ceremony for C:AVA II.