Network for the Valorization of Plant Materials (VPMA)

Value-added products from cassava (Uganda)
(94-8493)

Principal investigator: 
Dr. G.B. Mpango: Makerere University, Kampala (Uganda) 
E-mail: [email protected] 

In Uganda, cassava (Manihot esculenta) is becoming an important food item as well as an important industrial raw material. The aim of the Value-added products from cassava (Uganda) Project was to investigate, evaluate and experiment methods for the production of new value-added products from cassava, in order to stimulate increased production of cassava and bring about the realization of the importance of the value-added products in boosting the rural economies. The project looked into the quality and the detoxification of cassava and developed appropriate prototype equipment in the form of hand graters for rural cassava processing. A number of various high value products such as cookies, biscuits, dextrin syrup,  high dextrose energy drinks, ethanol, glue, high protein pre-mixes for baby foods and breakfast cereals were formulated from high quality cassava starch/flour. Also, the project has established cassava multiplication sites in Luuka and Kigulu counties in Ingang District, for on farm demonstration to the farmers, and an assessment of the impact of the African Cassava Mosaic Virus disease on household food security was done. More than thirty women and youth have been trained in processing of cassava and in product development and marketing, and a non profit organization has been established (VAP AGRO-PRODUCTS Ltd.).