USAID / RCSA - Success Stories

Cassava is Africa's most widespread traditional crop. Africans value cassava because in the worst of times they can depend upon it to provide the calories necessary for survival. Resistant to drought, easy to cultivate and viable in a farmer's field until it is required for food, cassava is grown throughout the continent. Although cassava is a reliable survival food, historically there has been little commercial demand for this ubiquitous root.

In Malawi a combination of innovative research linked to the demands of a growing market is changing this pattern. USAID linked its traditional concern for subsistence farmers with creative programming that supported both high technology and innovative market research. Researchers at the USAID-funded Southern Africa Root Crops Research Network (SARRNET) in Malawi produced an improved variety of cassava that has stimulated growing industrial demand for this traditional crop.

Malawi is a small but growing nation in which policies supportive of private enterprise development are beginning to build the foundation for a modern economy. Plywood manufacturing is one of the emerging industries. There is growing demand for inexpensive but strong wood that meets the requirements of the construction industry, not only in Malawi but also in countries such as Botswana, Namibia and Tanzania, which have thriving construction industries but limited natural forests.

Glue is an essential but normally expensive factor in the production of plywood. The industry in Malawi was using a wheat-based glue that had to be imported from outside of the region at great cost and inconvenience. A local substitute, if available, would be cheaper and enhance Malawi's potential to export plywood to other countries in the region.

The improved varieties of cassava developed by SARRNET proved to be the basis for this cheaper local substitute. With encouragement from USAID, SARRNET collaborated with the research unit of Banda Agriculture College and Malawi's Ministry of Agriculture to produce a cassava-based glue for plywood. International Timbers Limited (ITL), the primary manufacturer of plywood in Malawi, expressed interest in this research-based innovation but was skeptical that cassava could be the basis for an adequate binding agent for plywood. However, ITL agreed to test the glue and results showed that it was equal to wheat-based glue in all performance aspects: binding qualities, resistance to heat and pressure, and longevity in an environment that is especially hard on wood. It was also readily available locally and therefore less expensive than wheat-based glue.

By using only cassava-based glue, ITL has reduced its annual production costs by 53%, from US$28,800 a year for wheat-based glue to US$15,300 for the cassava-based product. Because cassava now has a commercial value, farmers have seen their prices increase from Malawian Kwacha (MK) 3.5 to MK 8.5 per kilogram of cassava. They also have a more reliable market for their crops and demand seems likely to grow as bakers and brewers experiment with using cassava flour in their products.

USAID/ RCSA - Success Stories