ABSTRACT
The Maendeleo Agricultural Technology Fund is an initiative of FARM-Africa, an international charitable organization with a mission to reduce poverty by enabling marginal African farmers and herders to make sustainable improvements to their well-being through more effective management of their renewable natural resources. Cassava plays an important role in the provision of staple foods in East Africa. In Uganda it ranks second among the major food crops and is regarded as the most important cheap source of staple food and cash crop. But new disease threats have emerged in recent years, including cassava mosaic virus and brown streak virus. Three broad types of innovation were promoted: use of improved disease-free cassava planting material, improved cultivation methods and post-harvest processing. The introduction of disease-resistant varieties has revived cassava production and has changed the district from being food deficient to generating and selling a surplus. The main factors of success in this project have been the improved disease-resistant cassava varieties, the development of farmer organizational structures that are rooted in the community and the creation of a value addition process with links to markets.
