Healthy And Sustainable Agriculture of Cassava in Nigeria (HASAC)

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"The HASAC (Healthy And Sustainable Agriculture of Cassava) in Nigeria project improves the agriculture and food system of cassava for smallholder farmers. The 15-month feasibility project will be tested in 21 farms of 5 acres each in Oyo state (total is 40 hectares).Cassava is one the six most important staple foods in the world and Nigeria is its first producer in Africa. However, quantity and quality of crops is not adequately managed or monitored in the country, its price is very volatile resulting in poor profits for farmers and lack of adequate exploitation, both in the processing and use of crops and in farmers' involvement in the value chain and ultimately, in the sale to external markets.The consortium composed of academic partner UCL, Amolexis of Nigeria, and AB5 of the UK will concentrate their efforts on better management and route to market of cassava culture, integrating test field and technology with a ""Making Market Work for the Poor"" (M4P) approach and a strategy to adapt and transform food for sale and marketing effectiveness. We are pleased to be able to collaborate of the local development agency OYSADEP, through which farmers and land for the demonstration phase of our project will be provided. The project will also permit to efficiently use resources (e.g. water, fertilisers and pesticides), reducing the impact of climate change. We are also grateful of a collaboration with International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) for the African Cassava Agronomy Initiative (ACAI) project. This project funded by the Bill Gates Foundation, aims at supporting the farmers' decision process through macro data.The aim is to develop a profitable model for smallholders, which can then be reproduced in a self-sustainable manner, and contribute to combat hunger and poverty in Nigeria. The project will actively contribute to fighting poverty, by providing farmers tools and information to develop their farms, and sell their harvest at the best price. Export and urban markets will be particularly targeted. We aim towards a zero-waste farm, and will make sure that wastes produced by the farms can eventually be recycled"