Promoting the benefits and merits of cassava as a food crop is the focus for an upcoming five-day conference and trade fair, taking place at the Nairobi headquarters of the Kenya Livestock and Agriculture Research Institute (KALRO), from June 21st.

Being organized by Self Help Africa Kenya in collaboration with the Root and Tuber Crop Unit at KALRO, the event – taking place from June 21st – 26th will provide an opportunity to promote cassava as a critical agricultural value chain with potential to increase income, food and nutrition security among smallholder farmers in Kenya.

Although it is one of the most widely grown crops in the country, cassava is considered by many to be a low-value crop. As a result it lacks a well-developed value-chain, including systems to promote it’s processing, uses and popularity as a food crop. 

The objective of the upcoming event is to highlight the benefits of cassava, as both one of the most important sources of carbohydrates for most rural and urban households, and also as one of the most climate resilient crops available to small-scale farmers in the country.

Contributors to the upcoming event will include farmers and seed entrepreneurs, small and medium sized cassava businesses, artisanl processors, research organisations, equipment makers, development NGOs and others working in cassava value-chains.

The conference sessions will take place from June 21st. Register your interest in attending the upcoming event by providing your details below:  

Self Help Africa is currently implementing an EU-backed project in Western Kenya that is seeking to promote and develop cassava production and processing amongst 28,000 farming households in the region.

Thematic focus

Theme 1:  Processing, Product Development & Market Access 

Agro processing & Value addition

Flour Blending 

Markets

Theme 2:  Best practice Dissemination, Learning and Scaling up

Scalable Case studies 

Evidence Based Research findings on cassava 

Theme 3:  Innovation & Technologies 

Youth & ICT

Seed Systems 

Mechanization (planting, uprooting, processing)