Once rural communities have bolstered their food security and raised incomes by adopting new crop varieties, the improved crops can then serve as entry points for economic development. Through rural processing, for example, farmers and local entrepreneurs can add value to agricultural produce and thus compete more effectively in growth markets. Moreover, as new agro-enterprises emerge, rural communities will be better able to invest in preserving the natural resources on which rural livelihoods depend.

Sharing Latin American Experience

In search of new opportunities for Africa's rural communities to achieve a more competitive, market-oriented agriculture, CIAT is expanding its work on agro-enterprise development in the region. In doing so we can draw on many years of experience in helping Latin American farmers add value to traditional crops, analyse market opportunities, and diversify into new enterprises.

One vehicle for sharing that experience is the Latin American and Caribbean Consortium to Support Cassava Research and Development (CLAYUCA). Established in 1999, CLAYUCA unites private and public sector organisations from seven countries of the Americas with two international centres, CIAT and France's Centre for International Cooperation in Agricultural Research for Development (CIRAD). The common cause of these diverse organisations—one they consider highly relevant to Africa as well—is the promotion of cassava as an entry point for local industrial development.

As a further means of strengthening its work on rural agro-enterprise development in Africa, CIAT has placed a senior specialist in the region. His primary tasks are to: (1) gauge demand and identify partners for this work; (2) adapt and apply new knowledge and tools (e.g., for designing agro-enterprises that link small farmers to growth markets) through action research; and (3) scale up the work through wide dissemination of R&D products and intensive training for staff of African government organisations and NGOs.

New Alliances and New Markets

Good progress is being made in all three of those tasks. For example, CIAT has recently entered into "learning alliances" with Catholic Relief Services (CRS) and Foodnet, an ASARECA-sponsored regional network, which is coordinated by IITA and funded by the US Agency for International Development (USAID). In cooperation with CRS, Foodnet, and Uganda's NARO, CIAT scientists have helped to organise courses in eastern Africa on agro-enterprise development. With help from local organisations, farmer groups have begun developing the agro-enterprises they consider most promising.

In addition, CIAT and CLAYUCA have forged a broad agreement with IITA for collaboration with the International Potato Centre (CIP) and national partners through the USAID-funded Southern Africa Root Crops Research Network (SARRNET). A first challenge is to establish a consortium of public and private sector organisations—based on the CLAYUCA model—for supporting sweet potato and cassava R&D. Toward this end contacts have been made with industries in Kenya, Malawi, and Tanzania that are interested in using cassava and sweet potato products.

Another key task is to gain a better understanding of the region's market opportunities. For this purpose surveys are being conducted to characterise the market chain for cassava and sweet potato in Malawi, Tanzania, and Zambia. Researchers are also establishing pilot plants in several countries to develop processing technologies (e.g., to make cassava and sweet potato into poultry and cattle feed) that are appropriate for farmers and industry. Most important, the collaborating institutions will form teams of trained professionals who can pursue market-driven strategies for agricultural development across the region.