Product development
A decision support tool that provides recommendations on agronomic practices to optimize starch yields at harvest for farmers supplying the processing industry in key areas in Nigeria and Tanzania
Overall Goals
Demand-driven, rapid and cost-effective development of a tool for optimizing starch content in cassava roots; demand creation with service providers; mainstream approaches for adoption by public and/or private R&D organizationsPrimary client
Extension agents of cassava processing partners: Psaltry International Ltd. in Nigeria and FJS African Starch Development Co Ltd in Tanzania
Tool format
Module for starch yield optimization within the Staggered Planting Expert Application for crop advisors (software application, paper-based manuals and extension guides)
Outcome goals
A decision support tool for selected AoIs in Tanzania and Nigeria; analytical tools, approaches and protocols for tool development; more accurate predictions of starch content in DSSAT models; ROI of the overall R&D approach; prioritized service providers use the decision support tool
Product development protocol
(to be validated and refined in a collaborative effort involving IITA, FUNAAB, NRCRI, ARI, CIAT, ETH and KUL)
gather secondary information on starch content and develop draft version of the tool (V0)
assess dynamics of root starch content as affected by agronomic practices in multilocational agronomic trials (installed for other use cases)/p>
incorporate data into the DSSAT modelling tool and cross-validate model predictions
incorporate findings into the tool and conduct validation trials to refine tool (V1)
design and format tool to facilitate use by development organizations (VF)
Printable Guides
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