World Congress on Root and Tuber crops
Plenary Session Monday January 18, 2016
Speaker 1
PS01
Pamela Anderson
30mn
Roots and Tubers: Serving People, the Planet, and
Prosperity
Pamela Anderson
Email: p.anderson@cgiar.org
In September 2015, Heads of State from around the world, endorsed a new,
global framework for development. The 2030 Sustainable Development
Goals (SDGs) were approved as a plan of action for people, the planet, and
prosperity. The world has committed to end poverty and hunger for
people everywhere; to protect the planet; and to ensure that all human beings enjoy fulfilling and
prosperous lives.
Given the central role played by root and tuber crops in diets and farming systems globally, and
particularly in the developing world, improvements in their productivity will play an important role
in achieving these goals. By linking productivity gains with opportunities to add value through
processing and marketing, we can move beyond food security to leverage these crops for increased
incomes that contribute to ending poverty – Goal 1 of the SDGs. Innovations in genetics,
mechanization, processing and marketing offer us the opportunity to make root and tuber crops
engines of inclusive economic growth, if they are developed and deployed in ways that balance
supply and demand and sensitivity to the preferences of the poor, particularly women.
It seems fitting that we recognize the creation and celebration of this first World Congress on Root
and Tuber Crops by challenging our community to take up this call to action, as active and
intentional players in the revitalized partnership for global development.
Speaker 2
PS02
Kaimian Li
30mn
Progress in Research and Development of Cassava in
China
Kaimian Li
Email: likaimian@sohu.com
Institute of Tropical Biosciences and Biotechnology, Chinese Academy of Tropical
Agricultural Sciences, Haikou 571101, China
Cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz) is used as a staple food in the tropical area in the world. In China
it mainly provides the raw materials to starch and biofuel processing factories, and also as a
potential food crop. Since 2008, Chinese Government has set up a Chinese Cassava Agro-Technology
Research System (CCARS) to fully organize and coordinate the development of the whole Chinese
cassava industry, and implement the industrial plans regarding cassava sciences and technologies,
arrange cassava research at laboratories, and technological demonstration and transfer in
experimental stations. Through using CCARS as a platform, the great achievement in cassava
research and development in China has been made to benefit to the smallholders and cassava-based
product producers, particularly for sharing much useful information involved in cassava varieties,
cultivation, processing and multiple cassava-based products, and then improve their product quality
against the vicious competition based on their advantage. In the present study the progress in
research and development will be emphasized in China, such as, the whole cassava genome
sequencing and testing have been made, the cassava mechanism for planting and harvesting were
partly implemented, the cassava flour cleanliness processing has been firstly established, and the
wasters from cassava producing starch and ethanol were recycled. All activities described about
were for increasing cassava value chain in China. In the prospect, the present study provided five
aspects including bioenergy, staple food, livestock and silkworm feeding, efficiency and
internationalization for cassava in China will be strengthened.
Key words: Cassava, CCARS, Research and Development, Value chain
Speaker 3
PS03
Martin Fregene
30mn
Industrialization of Cassava in Africa
Fregene M., Egba A., Dalevedove M., Burger L., Okechukwu R.,
Adesina A.
Advisor to the President of the African Development Bank on Feed Africa
Initiative.
Immeuble CCIA – Plateau, Avenue Jean-Paul II
01 P. O. Box 1387 – Abidjan 01, Côte d’Ivoire
Email: mfregene@gmail.com
Increased productivity and market outlets are the twin drivers of sustained growth of the
cassava sector in South East Asia. Between 1990 and 2014, doubling of cassava yields and
more than 1,000% expansion of starch, ethanol, sweetener, and dried chips processing
capacity in SE Asia created a vibrant cassava industry worth more than US$8billion annually
in SE Asia. As part of its Agricultural Transformation Agenda, Nigeria set out in 2011 to
expand industrial cassava processing capacity and raise cassava productivity. The Cassava
Transformation Agenda (CTA) set out to create additional market outlets for cassava in
Nigeria, especially in the strong growth High Quality Cassava Flour (HQCF) – for partial
replacement of imported wheat, starch, and sweeteners markets.
Between 2011 and 2014 and as a result of CTA, cassava processing capacity expanded 620%,
in new or upgraded starch, HQCF, and ethanol processing plants. Four new industrial scale
plants (20-60MT/day) – three for starch and one for ethanol were commissioned during the
period, while forty small and medium-scale enterprises (SMEs) producing HQCF were
upgraded from 1 MT/day to 3 MT/day capacity. Another eight plants (60-100MT/day) – five
HQCF, two starch, and one glucose have been ordered or close to being ordered. More
than 80,000 farmers mostly within the vicinity of these processing plants received 130.59
million stems of improved varieties (at 100% subsidy) and over 160,000 fifty-kilogram bags
of fertilizer (at 50% subsidy). A total of 1,300 hectares of medium-sized mechanized farms
were also established at locations of existing or new industrial scale plants.
Speaker 4
PS04
Jan Low
30mn
Delivering Biofortified Orange-fleshed Sweetpotato
through Nutrition and Income-Focused Value Chains
Jan W. Low
International Potato Center, Box 25171, Nairobi, Kenya 00603
Email: j.low@cgiar.org
Strong evidence exists demonstrating that when pro-vitamin A rich orange-fleshed sweetpotato
(OFSP) is introduced in rural sub-Saharan African communities using an integrated agriculturenutrition-marketing approach that includes nutrition education at the community level, significant
impacts can be made in vitamin A intakes for both children under five years of age and their mothers
as well as on vitamin A status of the young children.
From 2010-2014, two additional proof-of-concept action research studies, led by the International
Potato Center, were carried out that focused on alternative delivery systems to effectively introduce
OFSP. The first, Mama SASHA, linked access to OFSP to strengthened nutrition counseling by nurses
at ante-natal care clinics in Bungoma County, Western Kenya, an integrated agriculture-nutritionhealth intervention. The intervention focused on improved nutrition outcomes among pregnant
women and their subsequent off-spring under two years of age and improved ante-natal care
service utilization. The second, Rwanda Super Foods, focused on exploiting income earning
opportunities for smallholder sweetpotato producers through improved sweetpotato productivity
and linkages to a large agro-processor, Urwibutso Enterprises. The focus was on developing an
economically viable OFSP-based processed product, as sweetpotato is consumed boiled or steamed
in Rwanda. In addition, explicit targets were set to ensure sufficient participation of women as OFSP
commercialized. Gender-disaggregated benefits were explored for farmers linked to the agroprocessor as individuals or through participating in organized groups backstopped by local nongovernmental organizations.
Both studies collected and analyzed baseline and endline data and, in addition, Mama SASHA
gathered detailed cost data. Key findings will be presented.
Speaker 5
PS05
Jonathan Newby
30mn
Cassava in Asia: Exposing the drivers and trajectories of
the hidden ingredient in global supply chains
Jonathan C. Newby
CIAT, Hanoi, Vietnam.
Email: jnewby@cgiar.org
Throughout Southeast Asia, cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz) has become an increasingly
important crop in terms of both rural livelihoods and regional economic development. While it
remains an important food crop in some specific locations within the region, cassava production in
Southeast Asia is predominately a commercial oriented activity with smallholders producing the
crop to meet the rapidly growing regional demand for animal feed, starch based products, and
biofuel. As such, the market outlook for cassava, and hence the prospects for millions of smallholder
producers, is strongly linked to market and policy developments in global starch, grain, and energy
markets. In the past decade the cassava market has become strongly oriented towards East Asia,
with the global trade in cassava (fresh and dried) and cassava starch reaching around $3.8 billion
USD (2013).
Despite the growth in importance and economic value of cassava, the sector has struggled to shake
off several stigmas and continues to attract relatively limited policy support or private sector
investment. The long-term outlook of the crop will be influenced by its ability to maintain
competiveness against substitutes along the value chain. There are considerable opportunities to
increase the productivity, profitability, and sustainability of the cassava sector through better valuechain linkages between smallholders, industry actors, policy makers, and other support services.
New business models and partnerships will be essential for the cassava sector to maintain its
position as an attractive smallholder crop and ingredient in global supply chains.
Speaker 6
PS06
Le Hui Ham
30mn
The Cassava Revolution in Vietnam
Le Huy Ham1, Hoang Kim2, Nguyen Thi Truc Mai3, Nguyen Bach
Mai4, Reihardt Howeler5
Email: LHHAM@agi.ac.vn
1. Director General, Institute of Agricultural Genetics, Tuliem, Hanoi, Vietnam.
2. Nong Lam University - Thu Duc district - Ho Chi Minh City - Vietnam.
3. Hue University of Agricukture and Forestry, 102 Phung Hung street, Hue City, Vietnam.
4. Tay Nguyen University, 567 Le Duan - Buon Ma Thuot - Dak Lak, Vietnam. 5. CIAT, Cali, Colombia.
Cassava has become the third most important export crop in 20 years in Vietnam. In Vietnam
cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz) has been converted from food crop to industrial crop with high
speed in recent years. Thank to wide adaptability cassava can be grown in all ecological regions in
Vietnam, even in poor sloppy soil regions, contributing significantly to income of poor farmers. For
the last decades cassava production has been changed dramatically: Between 1975 and 2000,
cassava yields in the country ranged from 6 to 8 t/ha, and the crop was grown mainly for human
food and animal feeding. This situation changed remarkably with the introduction by CIAT scientists
in 1988 of high-yielding breeding lines and new varieties from Thailand. Area under cassava has
been raised from 237,600 ha in 2000 to 560,000 ha in 2014, productivity has been raised from 6-8
ton/ha to 18.3 ton/ha in 2014. Export value of cassava is about 1.3-1.5 billion USD/year, ranging this
crop in third importance among export crop, after only rice and coffee.
Vietnam Cassava Conservation and Sustainable Development has been very successful, as
indicated by the results of trials and demonstrations conducted in Tay Ninh, Dak Lak, Phu Yen and
Dong Nai provinces, where farmers using the improved technologies and practices boosted cassava
yields from 8.5 t/ha to 36 t/ha - a more than four fold increase. The Vietnam National Cassava
Program (VNCP) has introduced various methodologies, named “6M” and “10T”, as well as Farmer
Participatory Research (FPR), as collaborative experiences that helped to bring advanced
technologies into production for millions of poor farmers. This included the selection of high-yielding
varieties and the testing and selection by farmers of locally appropriate technologies.
Cassava in Vietnam: Trends, Challenges and Direction. Cassava is now considered to be most
suitable crop for biofuel production in Vietnam because of its excess and low cost of production
compare to other potential biofuel crop, like maize or sugarcane. Cassava in Vietnam has great
potential but also big challenges. To make cassava production profitable and sustainable there are
high needs for varietal improvement for diseases resistance and starch content, as well as cultivation
technology. Modern methods of biotechnology for plant improvement, like genetic engineering,
marker assisted selection and other methods of modern biotechnology should be involved in
cassava breeding. A Joint laboratory between CIAT-RIKEN (Japan) and Agricultural Genetics Institute
(AGI-Vietnam) “Cassava Molecular Breeding” has been established in AGI as an opened platform for
cassava research and breeding in Vietnam and the region.
Speaker 7
PS07
Prof Uthai Kam
30mn
Benefits of Cassava in Animal Nutrition
Uthai Kanto
Associate Professor Kasetsar University
Thai Tapioca Development Institute, Thailand
Email: uthaikt@hotmail.com
Cassava or tapioca (Manihot esculenta Crantz) is an important tropical perennial root crop which is
widely grown in Southeast Asia, Africa and Central America. The high adaptability to wide varieties
of soil types, resistant to drought, and the requirement of minimum attention to obtain an
acceptable yield makes cassava a common crop grown by farmers in the tropical region. But, the
high content of HCN in cassava tuber have retarded the utilization of cassava for human food and
animal feeds. However, the research and the practical experiences in using cassava as animal feeds
in Thailand has revealed that cassava is a basal feed ingredient that can be totally substituted for
cereals in every kind of animal diets including pigs, poultry, ruminants and aquaculture animals.
Cassava has specific properties including soft-starch, contamination of lactic acid bacteria and yeast,
more acidic pH (4-6) and a low but non-toxic content of HCN, which possess the antioxidant activity
and has direct effect on immunity development of the animals. Animals on cassava diets always
have an improved health status, more resistance to diseases, require less to no antibiotic in the diet,
low mortality rate while maintaining performance, productivity and carcass quality similar to those
on the cereal diets. Cassava is truly the functional feed ingredient for animal health improvement of
and for antibiotic-free animal production. However, the successful uses of cassava as animal feeds
requires a thorough understanding in quality control of cassava, feed formulation and feed
processing of cassava diets to provide the appropriate diets for the animals.
Speaker 8
PS08
Hernan Ceballos
30mn
A Road Map for Cassava Genetic Improvement
Cassava Breeding: Today and Tomorrow
Hernán Ceballos* and Clair Hershey
International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), Palmira, Colombia
* h.ceballos@cgiar.org, Registrant ID# 3357
Cassava productivity increased considerably during the first 20-30 years of breeding after the
creation of IITA, CIAT and many national agriculture research systems (e.g. the venerable KU50 was
released in Thailand in the 1990s). Further progress, however, has been difficult and yield gains
slowed down over the last 20 years. Molecular techniques have been developed and have had great
impact for understanding diversity in cassava and its main biotic problems, but so far had minimal
impact increasing productivity. Quantitative genetic information provided insights on the problems
for increasing productivity in cassava. Non-additive genetic effects and within family genetic
variation complicate both conventional and molecular breeding considerably. Even the
implementation of new, improved approaches for molecular breeding (e.g. genomic selection) faces
these problems as theoretical and empirical results demonstrate. Current gains in cassava contrast
sharply with those of maize, a crop with which it competes for key markets worldwide (e.g. starch,
animal feed and ethanol). Drastic changes in cassava´s genetic enhancement, along with improved
agronomy, are needed for the crop to remain competitive and meet the increasing demands to
nourish Africa in the next decades. Three strategies are critical for the future breeding of the crop: a)
induction of flowering; b) alternative approach(es) to breed for heterosis through reciprocal
recurrent selection; and c) the use of inbred progenitors. For high-value/single gene traits,
exploration of the germplasm collection through TILLING, gene editing and genetic transformation
are promising approaches. The integration of all these different approaches, however, is most
critical.
Speaker 9
PS09
Qiang Li
30mn
Sweet-potato Industry in China: Advantage, Problem, and Prospect
Qiang LI1*, Daifu Ma1, Qingchang LIU2
1Key
Laboratory for Biology and Genetic Breeding of SP, Ministry of Agriculture / Jiangsu
Xuzhou SP Research Center / SP Research Institute, CAAS, Xuzhou, 221131, China;
2China
Agricultural University / Beijing Key Laboratory of Crop Genetic Improvement,
Beijing 100193, China
(*instrong@163.com)
As a food, feed, and industrial material crop, sweet-potato (SP) has played
an extremely important role during past more than half century in China.
China is the biggest country of growing SP in the world. SP planting area reached peak in the midterm of 20th century, and saved a generation in China. Though decreasing gradually, the growing
area has still maintained over 3.5 M ha in the past decade, and accounted nearly 45% of the World.
The average yield has slightly increased in total with 20.5 tons -22.5 tons per hectare, and the
production has been steadily of 75M t -80 M t, accounted over 70% of the World in recent years.
The Chinese SP industry is the leading position in the world. As its high yield potential, special relief
function and wide adaptability, SP has played important role for food security in China. Consumers
have recognized that SP is the important materials of healthy food. Recent surveys showed that the
share of fresh SP expanding gradually. Many products have been developed, such as healthcare and
functional foods for its plentiful starch, polysaccharides, flavonoids, polyphenols, carotene,
anthocyanin, dietary fiber, and other healthcare substances.
Many barriers are faced in SP industry in China, such as labor costs increasing sharply, serious pests
and diseases, low level of mechanization, starch processing contamination, poor circulation of
market, high costs, low income, imperfect extension system, low specialization varieties, and so on.
We should set up innovation technology and extension system, healthy seedling propagation system,
fresh SP balanced supply system, high benefit production system, and so on, to strengthen SP
industry in the future.
Speaker 10
PS10
Prof. Conghua Xie
30mn
Potato Research and development in China
Xie Conghua, Liu Jun, Jiang Rui
Key Laboratory of Horticultural Plant Biology (HZAU), Ministry of
Education, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan 430070, China
Email: xiech@mail.hzau.edu.cn
China is the first potato producer of the world for about 90 million tons of annual output. The potato
crop is widely grown in the country and has importance for food security and poverty-reduction in
divergent conditions. Development of new varieties with improved yield, quality and resistances has
been priority for elevating sustainable crop production. Seed potato system established focuses on
shortening propagation generations to boost virus-free seed use for yield-raising. Enhancing potato
consumption has directed more potato production succession to rice in winter crop regions. Basic
and applied research programs and projects have covered multidiscipline to address constrains
faced by potato industry. Progresses have made in potato genomics for genome sequencing of
diploid and tetraploid species for setting up a more relevant reference platform to cultivated potato,
functional genomics of resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses and tuber quality for trait
manipulation, regulatory mechanism of tuber development for deepening understanding and
improvement of yield and propagation, pathogenesis of Phytophthora infestans for profiling the
host-pathogen interaction and better control of late blight that is the most destructive potato
disease, as well as cropping systems and cultivation techniques adoptable to arid, semiarid and
winter crop regions for efficient use of water and land resources and reduction of adverse climatic
conditions impact. Expected increase in potato production in next dozens of years will drive broader
and deeper scientific research in China.
Speaker 11
PS11
Andrew Westby
30mn
Post-harvest issues for tropical root and tuber crops in a
changing world
Andrew Westby, Keith Tomlns, Ben Bennett, Richard Lamboll,
Andrew Graffham, Andrew Marchant, Louise Abeyomi, Adrienne
Martin, Lora Forsythe, Debbie Rees, Rory Hillocks, Ulrich Kleih,
Maruthi Gowda, Aurelie Bechoff, Diego Naziri, Tanya Stathers and
Claire Coote.
Natural Resources Institute, University of Greenwich, Central Avenue, Chatham,
Kent ME4 4TB.
Email: A.Westby@greenwich.ac.uk
The tropical root and tuber crops are important parts of the diet in developing countries and
important sources of income for those who sell them, with or without processing. The environment
in which root crops contribute to the food security of the poor is changing rapidly. Specific
challenges and opportunities include:







the impacts of climate change and variability;
post-harvest implications of pre-harvest pests and diseases, such as cassava mosaic and
cassava brown streak;
the need to add value to root crops, increasing incomes and creating employment and
responding to urban growth, an expanding middle class and changing food preferences ;
developing effective and efficient processing equipment to support profitable processing by
small and medium scale enterprises,
the transferability of post-harvest technologies from other countries (including China) to the
Africa,
the contributions of root crops to nutrition, especially in light of the wider availability of biofortified crops;
addressing issues of post-harvest losses and how to deal with waste in the value chain and
add value to it.
This paper will draw on examples of recent work of the Natural Resources Institute on cassava,
sweet-potato and yam. This will include work on cassava recently recognized for the award of a
Queens Anniversary Prize, which is the highest award for the University Sector in the United
Kingdom. Prospects for future research and development will also be examined.
Speaker 12
PS12
Hans Rosling
30mn
Cassava in a Global perspective
Hans Rosling
Email: Hans.Rosling@ki.se
Public Lecturer at Gapminder and
Professor of Global Health at Karolinska Institute
Address: Box 38025
10064 Stockholm
+46 (0)76 171 2210 / www.gapminder.org
Is cassava important for the world economy in long term perspective? It may appear as cassava is a
crop of the poor and that with economic growth its importance will diminish. However, a view at the
long term population and economic macro trends in the world shows the opposite. The regions
where cassava is produced and used is where a large part, if not most, of the population and
economic growth will take place in this century. The change of the distribution of the world
population is most striking. By the end of this century, 80% of the world population will be living in
Asia and Africa and less than 10 % in West Europe and North America. The world economic growth is
also going tropical with now high growth rates in South Asia and Africa. This will be shown using
animated graphics and the latest socioeconomic data available.