Cassava is an important source of food and income in Uganda. The crop is an essential part of the diet, provides essential nutrients like carbohydrates and is available all year round, thus contributing to food security. In addition, cassava provides a livelihood for millions of farmers and thousands of processors and traders. Fresh cassava is widely consumed both in urban and rural areas as a snack and main meal. Kabarole/Kyenjojo and Masindi/Kiryandongo axes are the major suppliers of fresh cassava to the main urban markets of Kampala.

Fresh cassava marketing is currently an important source of income. Demand for fresh cassava in Uganda is increasing with urbanization. Despite the opportunity that cassava presents, its full potential in terms of contributing to food security and income generation has not yet been fully realized.

Cassava is very susceptible to postharvest physiological deterioration (PPD) and begins to deteriorate within 48 hours. This supposedly causes high levels of postharvest losses. However, technologies that extend the shelf-life of fresh cassava have already been adopted in other parts of the world (e.g., waxing in Colombia and Costa Rica for the export market) but the demand and viability of such technologies in Uganda is unknown. The adaptation of such shelf-life extension technologies to Uganda requires understanding their technical, economic and social feasibility in the country.