Root and Tuber Development Guides - their Objective

Post-production operations are part of a system that includes all the steps and actors from production to consumption. Consequently, a systems approach should be adopted when analysing constraints and introducing improvements. A methodology to analyse the constraints of post-production systems has been developed by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) GmbH, with the support of the Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement (CIRAD) and the Group for Assistance on Systems relating to Grain After-harvest (GASGA)^*. GASGA, together with five international agricultural research centres, has recently formed "The Global Post-harvest Forum" called "P_hAction". Application of the systems approach to roots and tubers (R&T) has revealed considerable potential for promoting R&T processing and marketing as a means to generate employment and income. Viable R&T products contribute substantially to food security for the ever-growing urban population in developing countries.

The root and tuber development guides are practice-oriented extension booklets that show how rural families can make the best use of R&T. Each guide in the series is based on practical experience gained in post-production research and development work conducted by many partners, especially in West Africa. Partners include the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), national research institutes and universities, and projects supported by GTZ in countries such as Benin, Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania and Togo.

This series of guides is designed to help conserve and add value to processed R&T products. Beneficiaries are rural families. Each booklet highlights a particularly promising approach in R&T post-production technology, including operations such as storage, marketing, processing etc. The innovations presented may help overcome traditional drawbacks, such as high perishability, the time-consuming nature of the work or the lack of profitability. Guides on the Cassava Chipping Machine and on Market Oriented Yam Storage are already available.

R&T commodities are important as staple foods and cash crops for the rural population in Africa. In some countries of tropical Africa, people are dependent on dishes prepared from these crops. This is why processing and marketing of R&T can be a income-generating activity, and one which is especially accessible for rural women in Africa.

The economic viability of the proposals made in these booklets has to be carefully assessed with regard to the specific circumstances. Since situations in different areas vary, the recommendations will need to be adapted to local circumstances, with special emphasis on the socio-economic implications, including the extra work potentially created for women.

These guides also draw attention to the fact that recognising and solving management problems is key to the sustainable development of economic activities in the field of root and tuber post-harvest operations.

The post-production activities of partner organisations and GTZ with respect to R&T crops are part of the German Government’s efforts to implement its development-policy priorities and to support the follow-up process of major Agenda 21 topics such as:

- Women removing water by pressing
(cf. gari production Method 2) -