Cassava is low cost carbohydrate source, produced by small resource poor farmers on marginal land in Latin America. The traditional markets for cassava are stagnant or declining, yet farmers have few other crop regions. A strategy implemented at CIAT of product development, focusing on small scale rural agroindustries generating income for foarmers and processors has been succesful in several countries.Products identfied and commercially successful include dried cassava for animal feed and fresh conserved cassava.Cassava flour and starch are under development at pilot level.These activities have been linked to crop production research within integrated cassava projects now in execution in all major cassava producing countries of Latin America. Some limitations have become apparent due to: - a lack of knowledge by users of the physicochemical and functional proper ties if cassava flours and starches and their relation to potential end use (food, feed, industrial) after secondary transformation.
- a lack of product development research on secondary or derived products from starch and flour, and on better utilization of process by-products. These latter can cause unacceptable levels of environmental pollution near processing plants. This project therefore proposes a series of related research areas based on current scientific andtechnical advances,to develop new products and processes based on primary cassava products (flour, starch and by products. These studies will be complemented by market research in order to identify those with the best potential, and to obtain the product quality and other characteristics sought by users. Formal and informal links already exist between the institutions participating in this project. Five sub-projects are proposed to reach the above objectives : - Characterization of raw material and cassava based products. - Treatment of by and waste products
- Bioconversions of cassava flours and starches
- Modificiations of the physicochemical and functional properties of cassa va primary products
- New market research