“I am very happy because I know my harvest will be plenty this year. You can tell from the way the cassava plants look healthy. We just did ratooning on it. I gave it to some members of our cooperative, Ashina Women Production Multi-Purpose Cooperative Society, to go and cultivate as well. Still, by the next time I do the ratooning, I intend to sell the stems instead.”
Those are the words of Francisca Ajav, who owns a cassava demonstration plot in Aliade, Gwer East Local Government Area (LGA) of Benue State. The IITA’s Zero Hunger Initiative (IITA-ZHI) helped set up the demo plot to give farmers in her cluster practical knowledge on the best practices in cassava cultivation. The 0.25-hectare demo plot has been cultivated with TME 419 and Vitamin A varieties of cassava and is used by the lead Extension Agent in the community Moses Unja to disseminate knowledge.