The development of the Global Cassava Development Strategy was initiated in 1996 at a'brainstorming'meeting convened by the International Fund for Agricultural Development. Cassava was recognised by the meeting as a food security and commercial crop that lends itself to a commodity approach to poverty alleviation, given the close connection between the poverty level in many parts of Africa, Asia and Latin America and the role of cassava in these cropping and food systems in these areas. The importance of farming systems issues