As a farmer and a community leader, retired policeman Simon Peter Gitahi’s constant worry until 2018 was how a local growers’ marketing cooperative society could be kicked back to life and help farmers earn an income from cassava farming.

Egerton University is seeking to boost value addition for cassava, which is largely consumed as subsistence food in Eastern Africa’s rural households.

The programme funded by Community Action Research Project (CARP+), Regional Universities Forum for Capacity Building in Agriculture (RUFORUM) and the MasterCard Foundation also targets to create jobs, increase food and nutrition security, as well as improve cassava quality, productivity and its marketability both locally and abroad.