[Perspectivas rurales sobre la yuca : estudio de caso de la CBN en Tanzania].

The Cassava Biotechnology Network (CBN) has a role in providing biotechnologists with information on the needs of developing country producers, processors, marketers, and consumers of cassava. CBN is exploring ways of learning the perspectives of cassava users in a manner repeatable at intervals or in different regions. A study in Tanzania used Rapid Rural Appraisal (RRA), chosen for its fit cost- effectiveness and quickness. Major findings concerned villagers' perspectives on cassava production stresses (the region has been hard hit by delayed rains, insect pests and declining soil fertility); varietal diversity deployed to satisfy a range of requirements; reasons for use of both high and low cyanogenic cassava; and villagers' keen interest in new cassava cultivars and processing methods, including novel products for village - level commercialization. In the region studied, men are traditionally responsible for decisions about cassava production and processing, though comments by villagers suggested regular consultation between men and women. Women are responsible for most of the cassava-related labor. Decisions about small-scale daily harvest, processing and sales, are an exception; these decisions are generally made by women. Biotechnological research for villagers in this region can focus in the short term on microbial biotechnologies for faster, safer, more nutritious cassava products; and on exploring the feasibility of micropropagation for increasing initial planting material of desirable cultivars. In the medium term, transgenic experimental genotypes may permit study of cyanogenesis and its relationship to cassava productivity, plant defense and processing quality; postharvest deterioration and its effects on women's activities; and altered root protein or vitamin content. In the long term, molecular marker-assisted selection may permit faster and farther progress in cassava breeding for all villager concerns than is possible with present breeding tools, including complex research objectives such as adaptation to stress environments.