Assessment of the market performance of cassava along the value chain in Teso Region

Abstract

Cassava is one of the most important food crops in Teso. It is traditionally utilized in many processed forms, the most common being chips and flour. Besides being a food crop, cassava is attracting more attention as a commercial commodity. The rise in the commercial orientation of cassava is due to the fact that cassava products have important industrial applications for plywood, textile, bakery, pharmaceutical, paper, alcohol, and food industries. There is greater need to understand the most profitable stage in cassava value chain so to enable farmers specialize in the production of cassava and its products. This paper assessed the market performance of cassava and its products in Teso sub region in Uganda with the aim of improving its commercialization. Data was collected through a quantitative survey of 120 cassava producers and traders in Pallisa, Amuria and Serere districts. Analysis was done using SPSS and Excel. Results show that fresh tubers dominated the marketed products by both producers and retailers. Among the three cassava marketing channels, the producer – retailer channel had the highest gross margins; sold as a bag at the farm gate price of UGX 50,000 the retailer realizes a markup price of UGX 25,000 per bag. Selling cassava as a ―heap‖ on the street was even more valuable as the price is pegged at an average of 50% above the farm gate price. Processing of cassava increased the gross margins compared to fresh tubers. Producers can benefit from processing cassava into chips. Wholesalers had the advantage only when they marketed cassava flour to retailers. These results show that the cassava business can be profitable if cassava can be processed into value added products such as starch and highquality cassava flour which have high commercial values.