On a lazy Sunday afternoon, Ruth Atieno is busy in her compound peeling cassava before chopping them into small pieces.
She then spreads the chopped cassava on a mat placed in the sun. This has been her daily routine for the last six months. Introduction of value addition has seen residents of Gem in Siaya County revert back to the once abandoned cassava farming.
“We used to grow cassava as an alternative meal, and we would produce more than we could consume, leading to massive waste. Many people then abandoned the trade,” recalls Atieno.
Her two-acre piece farm in Kambare village had been lying idle for five years, until last year when a neighbour shared knowledge on value addition.
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Atieno, is a member of an informal table banking group, together with 20 other women from the village.
“We are women who engage in small businesses, such as selling vegetables, cereals and other non-food items in the local market,” she says.
One of the members in the group attended an agricultural form where she got knowledge on value addition on cassava and market opportunities.
She convinced the women in the group and they re embraced cassava farming, before they acquired a grinder for milling the cassava.
According to Perez Awino, a member of the group, they have since formed a centralised cassava collection point where the women bring their produce for processing.
Work in unison
The women do joint work in their farms during planting, weeding, and harvesting to share the workload.
“We do not have much money to spend on the production costs, so we come together to provide labour. When it is your turn, you only provide some meal for the members who are helping you in the farm,” says Awino.
After harvesting, the members put the produce in a centralized place, where they peel them, chop them into smaller pieces and sundry before milling using a portable grinder.
With the fast maturing variety, Mygera, SS4, MH95, NM06 and MH96, the farmers can harvest within eight months.
According to Gem Farmers Centre Chairman Thomas Owiny, the project funded by European Union and Self Help Africa, and implemented by Ugunja Community Resource Centre was aimed at empowering farmers in the area.
“There is high demand for sun dried cassava, with people using them to make flour, porridge and other nutritious products like cake and cassava chips,” he says.
He notes that an acre of land can produce up to 5.5 tonnes of cassava.
“Value addition has made farmers get value for their time invested in the farms. Previously farmers would sell one kilo of fresh cassava at Sh5, while sun dried cassava fetch up to Sh33 per kilo,” he says.
