The Roots and Tuber Improvement Project (RTIP) This agency was recently reorganized and is now known as the Roots and Tubers Improvement and Marketing Project (RTIMP). It has collaborated with other agencies such as CRI to help provide good planting materials to farmers. RTIP has also provided counterpart funding for the initiative to cover for the lack of direct funding by the central government, as its objectives were complementary to the goal of the PSI on cassava. RTlP in collaboration with CRI also promoted the development of community-based cassava multiplication scheme to improve the access of local producers to superior planting materials.
Primary actors of the cassava value chain in Ghana
Cassava growers associations Some of the growers associations have up to 10, 000 members (e.g. Ayensu cassava farmers' association). Their major roles in the implementation of the PSI include: ensuring adequate linkages between the local cassava producers and the cassava starch factory, supplying raw materials (i.e. fresh cassava roots) to the starch factory, assisting members to expand cassava production. These associations were also meant to contribute to the creation of more rural employment through cassava production, to assist members for improved access the local market, and work with relevant government structures to ensure the successful establishment of the cassava starch processing factories as planned by the program.
Ayensu Starch Company limited (ASCO) The frrst public-private partnership enterprise, ASCO was established in 200 I, but it began production only in 2003. It has an installed capacity to produce 3 tons of cassava starch per hour (or to process 300 tons of raw cassava per day).
PARTNERSHIPS IN SUPPORT OF CAADP
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