Inclusive business models to promote sustainable smallholder cassava production (IBC)
The "Inclusive business models to promote sustainable smallholder cassava production (IBC)" project was designed to improve the income security and livelihoods of 2,000 smallholder farming households in Lao PDR, Cambodia and Vietnam by improving the produ
Cambodia,Lao PDR,Vietnam,
concluded
The "Inclusive business models to promote sustainable smallholder cassava production (IBC)" project was designed to improve the income security and livelihoods of 2,000 smallholder farming households in Lao PDR, Cambodia and Vietnam by improving the productivity and sustainability of cassava production, including profitable relationships with processors.
The production of cassava in Southeast Asia has soared in recent years. It has substantial potential to increase the incomes and improve the livelihoods of smallholder farmers. Many of the poorer rural communities, including ethnic minority communities, are involved in cassava production or can shift easily to cassava production. In addition, cassava production, on-farm utilisation, pre-processing, and marketing are activities shared by both women and men farmers.
In Lao PDR, the IBC project had two main objectives:
To develop and promote sustainable production and business models in which smallholder farmers adopt sustainable cassava production methods, and are integrated into the value chains of processing enterprises to form profitable long-term business relationships with increased environmental sustainability for both production and processing.
To create a knowledge and learning platform for stakeholders from the public sector, development organisations, service providers and business to learn about market-based solutions for inclusive business practices between processing enterprises and smallholder producers.
The IBC project focused on two main target groups. First, over 2,000 smallholder farm households (10,000 beneficiaries), organised in production clusters through four inclusive business models and second, cassava processing enterprises that developed more environmentally sustainable and profitable businesses based on the principles of inclusive business and increased uptake of environmentally sound and productivity enhancing technologies. This approach aimed to encourage other enterprises and neighbouring farmers to follow these examples, thus benefiting an expected total of around 20,000 people over time.
The project was implemented together with the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) and the Sustainable Natural Resource Management and Productivity Enhancement Project.
