Dar es Salaam, 13 September 2013. Over a half of the population in the three
major cities in Tanzania eat cassava but nearly everyone eats maize.
Furthermore, the hardy root crop, was found to be more popular among the
older people who preferred it in the form of ‘ugali’ a thick porridge made
from its flour while the young population mostly ate it boiled.
There is therefore a huge potential to increase the market for cassava in
the country by getting more people to eat cassava especially the urban
youth says Dr Adebayo Abass, a value chain specialist from the International
Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA).
Dr Abass was speaking at a recent training on standards for cassava flour in
East Africa for cassava processors from Kigoma, Pwani and Mwanza regions
held at the Lake Zone Agricultural Research Institute (LZARD) in Mwanza. The
five East Africa countries harmonized their standards for cassava and potato
and their products to facilitate cross-border trade.
Dr Abass said the study commissioned by IITA and conducted by Consumer
Insight, asked 1,464 people in the major cities in Tanzania the important
crops in their daily food. Over a half of them, 53% said they ate cassava
compared to 100% of maize. 65% of them said they ate it boiled cassava while
67% consumed it as a stiff porridge ‘ugali’ made from the flour.
“Looking at age differences, a majority of the young people between 18-24
consumed boiled cassava while among the older generation, most preferred to
eat ugali made from its flour. Most of the younger people (70%)said they
would like to eat cassava ugali, if the flour was white and not smelly” he
said.
According to the researcher, ugali made from some traditional cassava flour
is smelly while the modern processing method developed by IITA through and
tested in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture, Food Security and
Cooperation (MAFC) and the Tanzania Food and Nutrition Center (TFNC) and
other partners gives non-smelly cassava ‘ugali.’
According to the study, conducted between May and July 2013, the region with
the highest consumers of cassava was Mwanza and mostly in the form of
cassava ‘ugali’. It was least popular in Arusha partly because the cassava
flour available in the market was grey in color (33%).
Looking at quality issues, the study found that nearly a half of the
population (44%) wanted the cassava flour to be finely milled, a third said
they did not want it smelly and another third wanted it white in colour. And
when asked where they wanted to buy their flour, majority said at the kiosks
in the neighborhood. Only 9% said the supermarkets. Two thirds of the people
interviewed also said they found it difficult to find the cassava flour
because it was not available in the kiosks.
Dr Abass said, from the study, a majority of those interviewed said that
they did not want the cassava and maize flours mixed together by the
processors. They prefer to buy each separately and mix at home themselves as
they wish. They also preferred the packing to be in one kg packets.
Abass advised the processors, “Looking at the whole population, majority
want the flour to be white, finely milled and definitely not smelly. That
is how you should process your flour. And again, many of you have been
targeting supermarkets, but now you need to start considering the kiosks-
the small shops within the residences. And you now also know the most
preferred packaging. ”
The training was conducted by researchers from IITA and Tanzania Bureau of
Standards (TBS) with funds from Association for Strengthening Agriculture
Research in East and Central Africa, (ASARECA).
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