Markets and policy

Objective 1: Assess the opportunities, challenges and risks for the development of sustainable regional solutions for cassava disease management in mainland SEA including coordinated policy development, sustainable business and public-private funding models;

1.1 Understand the macro-level drivers for the development of the cassava industry, including changing market conditions and policy arrangements for cassava (starch, feed, chips) and substitutes (e.g., maize, potato, and sugar). Develop plausible market scenarios to analyse the impact of these changes on project interventions and sustainability of business models;

1.2 Assessment of the economic impact of cassava diseases on cassava producers and industry stakeholders. Outline the potential incentives and constraints for value-chain stakeholder activity to engage in solutions in different production and market contexts;

1.3 Analysis of household decision making under production and market uncertainty, including on-farm management, willingness to supply and willingness to pay for cassava planting material for planting material of different quality and certification, with particular focus on gender, ethnicity, youth and wealth;

1.4 Characterise of the cassava seed system, including identification of key value chain actors, spatial seasonality of supply (harvest date) and demand (planting date); costs of transport and logistics linking source and sink regions in SEA;

1.5 Develop innovative business models to strengthen the value chain for the production and movement of ‘clean’ (and later resistant) planting material from suppliers to purchasers, including the use of ITC and mobile applications and the potential role of in-field diagnostics and certification;

1.6 Map existing national and regional stakeholder networks, develop and strengthen multi-stakeholder national and regional platforms for the sharing of information, policy development, and coordination of activities to address cassava disease and other present and future threats to the sector;

1.7 Investigate alternative models for public-private funding of core activities at a local, national and regional scale to ensure sustainability of interventions.