Strengthening Africa’s staple crops: RTB Cassava and Yam WCA Network charts new breeding strategies for regional markets

On 23-25 September, CGIAR RTB Cassava and Yam WCA Network brought together breeders, researchers, and stakeholders from across West, East, and Central Africa to tackle one of the most pressing issues in the region’s agricultural landscape—how to better align yam and cassava breeding programs with the diverse needs of regional markets. The meeting focused on consolidating country-specific market segments and target product profiles for these staple crops, which play a crucial role in human consumption across regions.

Their deliberations highlighted a solid need to review, develop, and adopt new breeding schemes that cater to regional market segmentation and the targeted products for regional consumption. The high-level meeting also focused on consolidating country-level market segments and target product profiles for yam and cassava for human consumption in West and Central Africa with continuous improvement of products to ensure competitiveness and relevance in the regional market.

The Cassava group identified key consumption, yield, and agronomic traits critical to different market segments—fresh white, processing white, industry white, and biofortified products. Traits such as root shape, lodging, root flesh color, plant type, and plant height were unanimously recognized for improvement. Disease resistance traits were considered essential to achieving the meeting’s objectives.

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