IITA–CGIAR has been providing support to the Agricultural Value Chain Development Project in the Savannahs in CAR (PADECAS) following an agreement signed with the Government for technical assistance in the cassava value chain.
Following the agreement signed in October 2020, the training of trainers on sustainable cassava production has been the most prominent activity, with the trainees recruited among the Central African Agency for Agricultural Development (ACDA), the National Seeds Office (ONASEM), the Central African Institute for Agricultural Research (ICRA), and the seed multipliers (GAMS). Eighty-one trainees—71 male and 18 female—have benefitted from the program so far.
Several training materials covering cassava seed and root production and pest and disease management have been developed and distributed to trainees. Seven improved cassava varieties were introduced in the country in August 2021 through ICRA and multiplied on a 4 ha plot at the Boukoko station.