BACKGROUND

The commercialisation of traditional processed products from cassava, such as fufu, potentially offers new opportunities to rural households - either through sale of fresh roots or through processing and marketing. Several options exist for the commercialisation of fufu, including the production of a shelf stable product. This project investigates how commercialisation can best be promoted to ensure the maximum positive impact on the rural poor. This will be done through developing an understanding of the changes that different approaches to commercialisation are likely to have on local livelihoods in case study villages, including an analysis at both household and intra-household levels. While working to improve access to markets for a processed cassava product (fufu), the project aims to develop an approach that ensures that any improved technology will not simply increase the income potential of particular groups, but will provide overall maximum benefit to the sustainable livelihoods of poor people.

PROJECT APPROACH

Pit storage of sweet potato in Uganda © University of Greenwich

OUTPUTS TO DATE

Dipeolu, A.O., Adebayo, K., Ayinde, I. A., Oyewole, O. B., Sanni, L. O., Pearce, D.M., Wandschneider, T.S., White, J. L. and Westby, A. (2001) Fufu Marketing Systems In South-West Nigeria. Techncial Report R2626, Natural Resources Institute, University of Greenwich. (PDF - 953Kb])

Oyewole, O.B., Sanni, L.O., Dipeolu, A.O., Adebayo, K., Ayinde, I.A., Pearce, D.M., Tomlins, K. and Westby, A. (2001) Improved processing technology for the fermentation of cassava fufu. Oral paper presented at the 11th World Congress of Food Science and Technology, Seoul, South Korea. (PPT - 191Kb)

Westby, A., White, J., Collinson, C., Kapinga, R. and Graffham, A. (2000) Matching the potential of root crops as commercial commodities with the needs of the poor. Plenary session paper presented at the Triennial Symposium of the International Society for Tropical Root Crops, Japan, 10-16 September 2000.