The Roots and Tubers Market-Driven Development Programme aims to improve the food security and livelihoods of rural people, especially vulnerable groups such as women and young people, through the development of the roots and tubers (R&T) subsector. The PNDRT specifically aims to:

• Strengthen the R&T value chain by organizing the producers and other stakeholders associated with the chain;
• Improve the access of producer-processor organizations to local, national and subregional systems for R&T product marketing by forging trading links with buyers and drawing up business contracts;
• Enhance the response of processors to market demand both in quantitative and in qualitative terms, through study tours and technology support;
• Contribute to a sustainable expansion of R&T production through the use of technolologies tailored to farmers’ needs.

The programme will close in 2013. To date, the PNDRT has boosted R&T production through the promotion of improved post-harvest treatment processing techniques that can be widely adopted by poor famers. The August 2010 report on welfare benefits issued by the national institute for statistics documents, in the PNDRT implementation area, global growth in R&T production of 214 per cent for cassava, 187 per cent for yams, and 135 per cent for potatoes. Domestic consumption and revenue generated by the sale of these products should follow the same trend. Women, as the main stakeholders in the cassava value chain, have a 95 per cent representation rate in decision-making in village consultative committees. According to the report, the support provided to cassava producers-processors has enabled them to pay for their children’s schooling, rebuild their houses, gather assets and equipment or buy plots of land for housing. Some have diversified their activities and have begun to employ paid labour.

Source: IFAD