CRI INTRODUCES SIX NEW CASSAVA VARIETIES

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A cassava plant

Cassava, a major staple crop in sub-Saharan Africa has been identified as a highly important nutritional crop with a huge potential to add up to poverty alleviation efforts and also increase the Gross Domestic Incomes of most African countries.

 Currently, it is the leading Ghanaian food staple, most widely cultivated crop by over 70 per cent of Ghanaian farmers and consumed by majority of the population. 

A Chief Research Scientist at the Crops Research Institute of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, Professor Paa Nii Johnson made these known at the launch of six new cassava varieties released by the Institute on Tuesday. 

The new cassava varieties were wholly developed by the Institute with technical support and funding from the Alliance for Green Revolution in Africa, AGRA. 

They are the Duade Kpakpa, Amansan Bankye, CRI-AGRA, Dudjie, Abrabopa and Lamesese, bringing to 17, the total number of cassava varieties bred and released by the Crops Research Institute. 

Professor Paa Nii Johnson noted that unlike previously, cassava has now shifted from being mostly a traditional crop grown for domestic consumption by households to an industrial one, with high demand both locally and globally. 

He said the new crop varieties based on their different qualities can be processed into industrial starch, high quality cassava flour, adhesive for the wood industry, feed for livestock as well as alcoholic beverages. 

The Director of the Crops Research Institute, Dr. Stella Enning on her part emphasized that the release of the new varieties is in line with the Institute’s mission to develop and disseminate demand-driven technologies and build capacity for sustainable food and industrial crops productivity to enhance livelihoods. 

She commended the breeding team for their tireless efforts to develop these varieties and also appealed to all stakeholders particularly the partners of the Institute to continue supporting it to remain an unequaled research centre in the country and beyond.


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