The University of Greenwich's Vice-Chancellor Tessa Blackstone learnt about the production, processing and marketing of cassava during her recent visit to Ghana. The VC was visiting Accra to see aspects of the University's Tabeisa Project, which recently won a Queen's Anniversary Prize for its work in encouraging entrepreneurship in Africa. While there, she also visited some of NRI's collaborators in research and development projects on the key staple crop cassava, as well as our colleagues in capacity building for agricultural research more generally.
Tessa Blackstone finds out about cassava in the field, at market and in a rural processing plant, in Ghana
© University of Greenwich
Baroness Blackstone had meetings with Dr Monty Jones, the Executive Secretary of the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA) and members of his team. She visited NRI's fellow scientists at the Food Research Institute (FRI), where she signed a memorandum of understanding that recognizes and enhances the long-established collaborative links between NRI and FRI. Tessa Blackstone also saw at first-hand the production and marketing system for cassava in visits to cassava farms and small-scale processing plants to the north of Accra.
For more information on NRI's work on cassava in Ghana, contact Prof. Andrew Westby (A.Westby@gre.ac.uk)