For the last 5 years, in Colombia, cassava has been growing in importance as a cash crop for both small and large-scale farmers. Currently, however, they have difficulties in obtaining sufficient quantities of high-quality planting materials. In response to this need, we established two propagation methods: one for resource-poor small farmers, and another for medium-to-large cassava growers (semi-industrial farmers).

To develop a low-cost propagation technique, we used a participatory research methodology with a women farmers' group from Santa Ana (Cauca, Colombia), who played a key role in the system's establishment, maintenance, and operation. We used the farmers' most preferred cultivar: M Col 1522, or 'Algodona'. Three more cultivars have since been incorporated into the propagation scheme. In vitro plants, produced and handled by farmers, are currently being planted in farmers' fields for evaluation.

Not only did we train farmers to use tissue culture to produce sufficient quantities of their own "clean" planting material, but we also reduced the costs of implementing rural facilities for tissue culture. For example, we built a transfer hood with locally available materials at 12 times less the market price.

The second propagation method was set up to scale up the process, keeping in mind the needs of larger farmers. We implemented the RITA® system to increase propagation rates from 1:3 (conventional, solid system) to 1:6-10 (temporal immersion system). We validated the system with 16 commercial clones for all cassava-growing regions in Colombia. Following a request from farmers of the North Coast, we incorporated three local clones (Yema de Huevo, Ramirana, and Por Encima) for propagation in RITA®.

Finally, we are also working on lowering the costs of implementing RITA® for rural tissue-culture laboratories, public schools, and national programs by replacing several equipment parts with locally available pieces.