A Roadmap toward a reimagined Cassava Crop to benefit Smallholder Farmers

OVERVIEW

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (the Gates Foundation), the Seeker for this Innocentive Challenge, is looking to realize the agricultural potential of Cassava (Manihot esculenta), a cornerstone crop for small farmers across Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), and to convert the crop into a powerful driving force of the economic development of the SSA region. To achieve this objective, some biological constraints of the Cassava plant must be overcome.

The Gates Foundation, therefore, wants to create a roadmap to an “ideal” variety of Cassava, a crop that will combine the production power of sugarcane with genetics of maize.

More specifically, the Challenge is looking for a comprehensive list of constraints preventing existing Cassava varieties from becoming an “ideal” crop, particularly limitations to breeding and production. Production can include stem cuttings, planting, harvest, and tuber storage. It is also looking for a detailed list of genetic interventions, for each identified constraint, capable of overcoming this constraint. This list should include specific genetic targets and specific ways of changing these targets in the desirable way. The comprehensive roadmap should also identify those improvements possible within 5 years and 10 years, as well as those achievable within a longer (15-20 years) timeframe. 

Your IP Rights are protected in this Prize Challenge; the Gates Foundation must pay you an award to obtain them.

There is an award pool of $40,000 available for proposed solutions that meet or partially meet Solution Requirements. The best solution(s) have the opportunity to win awards from $5,000 to $20,000 for meeting several of the Solution Requirements, including supporting background, feasibility and rationale. The Challenge requires a written proposal to be submitted, and Awards will be contingent upon the theoretical evaluation of your proposal by the Gates Foundation. To receive an Award, Solvers are required to grant non-exclusive license rights to the Intellectual Property (IP) conceived and developed by the proposed solution. Solvers will retain all rights to any proposal not Awarded, and there is no IP assignment.

Gates Foundation Global Access and Intellectual Property. 

Global Access means the knowledge and information gained from the awarded solutions will be made available and accessible at an affordable price to people most in need within developing countries.

The management of intellectual property rights are likely to play an important role in achieving the goals of the Challenge, you should seriously consider your willingness to submit a solution in compliance with the Gates Foundation Global Access Statement which can be found here: https://www.gatesfoundation.org/How-We-Work/General-Information/Global-Access-Statement.

Due diligence activities will be conducted against solutions of interest which may include inquiry into your: 1) Freedom to operate and ability to freely use and acquire needed background technology; and 2) Commitment to promote the utilization, commercialization and availability of your solution for public benefit.

Submissions to this Challenge must be received by 11:59 PM (US Eastern Time) on January 12th, 2026.

Please review the later Participation Guidance section before submitting a proposal.

- Login or register your interest to start solving!

ABOUT THE SEEKER & ELIGIBILITY

The Gates Foundation is an American private foundation based in Seattle, Washington. It was launched in 2000 and is reported to be the second-largest charitable foundation in the world, holding $69 billion in assets as of 2020.

Employees of ­­­­the Gates Foundation are ineligible to receive an award for this Challenge.

THE CHALLENGE

Background

Cassava (Manihot esculenta) is a cornerstone crop for small farmers across Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). An estimated 450–500 million people in the SSA region rely on it as a staple food and income source, and globally Cassava supports up to a billion people in more than 100 countries. Its roots are a major source of carbohydrates; leaves are eaten as a green vegetable rich in protein and vitamins; and dried chips and starch are used in animal feed and ethanol, textiles, paper, and food processing.

Cassava is attractive to small farmers because it can grow on relatively poor (acidic and low fertility) soils with often erratic rainfall, using only family labor and few purchased mechanical tools. This resilience explains why it is widely planted on marginal land and used as a “risk-buffer” or famine-reserve crop when cereals fail.

Cassava planting is almost entirely vegetative: farmers plant 15–25 cm stem cuttings (around 10,000 plants per hectare) rather than true seeds; each cutting produces a new, genetically identical clone of the mother plant. Under the conditions for the SSA region, average yields are only about 7–10 tons fresh roots per hectare (t/ha), as opposed to 20–40 t/ha routinely achieved in well-managed trials and even up to 80–90 t/ha under ideal experimental conditions.

Unfortunately, the low Cassava yields are caused not only by suboptimal agricultural practices, but also by the biological constraints of Cassava plant that make its genetic improvement difficult. The major among these constraints are:

• The crop is mainly propagated vegetatively (by stem cuttings), which preserves bad alleles and slows the removal of harmful genetic variations.
• Multiplication rates via stem cuttings are low compared with seed-propagated crops, so spreading new varieties widely takes several (typically 3-5) years.
• Flowering is often late, irregular, and genotype-specific; some elite clones flower poorly or not at all, and flowering times are highly sensitive to environment.
• As a crop, cassava exhibits high genetic heterogeneity; most varieties are complex mixtures of alleles. Crossing two heterogeneous parents creates very diverse progeny making it hard to “fix” desirable combinations.
• The breeding cycle is long: it commonly takes 5–8 years or more to move from initial crosses, through clonal evaluation and regional trials, to release of a new variety.

• Fresh cassava roots deteriorate within 2–3 days after harvesting due to post-harvest physiological degradation and microbial spoilage, which is exacerbated by the lack of affordable processing equipment and adequate drying infrastructure.

To realize the real agricultural potential of Cassava and to convert the crop into powerful driving force for economic development in SSA, these constraints must be overcome.

The Challenge

The objective of this Challenge is to create a roadmap to an “ideal” variety of Cassava, a crop that will combine the production power of sugarcane with ease of genetic improvement of maize breeding. That means that this “ideal” Cassava will have the following important traits:

• Much higher, more reliable yields, in terms of tuber biomass and starch.
• Faster, more predicable flowering and shorter breeding cycles; potential for true-seed use (apomixis or seed-propagated lines) to break the current bottlenecks around planting stem cuttings.
• Easy, repeatable gene editing and trait stacking (disease resistance, delayed PPD, starch quality, drought/heat tolerance, etc.).
• Better fit for mechanization and industrial supply chains (uniform stands, synchronized maturity, ratoon-like regrowth or easier replanting).
• More efficient farmer production systems that standardize or improve farmer planting systems.

To create such a roadmap, Solvers are expected to achieve two major things:

First, they’re expected to create an exhausting list of constraints preventing existing Cassava varieties from becoming an “ideal” crop on par with sugarcane and maize (10-12 items). Such a list should incorporate and expand on the list of constraints presented above but also include constraints that have been previously overlooked in the Cassava literature.

Second, for each identified constraint, identify at least one (and, ideally, a few) genetic interventions capable of overcoming this constraint within a and mapped against a 5- 10- and 20-year time horizons. The description of a genetic intervention should include specific genetic targets and the specific ways of changing these targets in the desirable way. The preference should be given to strategies that use gene editing as the primary technology (CRISPR-Cas9, CRISPR-Cas12a, CRISPRi/CRISPRa, base editors, etc.) with the idea that a multiplexed gene editing strategy could solve multiple problems in a single step. The choice of targets and genetic interventions must be thoroughly justified with appropriate literature references.

Important! Priority will be given to traits that create opportunities for seed system development and production increase such as development of improved and modernized planting systems. Additionally, solution proposing disease resistance or abiotic stress tolerance traits will be considered too.

Also important, priority will be given to genetic interventions that have can be translated to other vegetatively produced crops of importance to small holder farmers (such as yams, sweet potato, and banana).

SOLUTION REQUERIMENTS

To summarize the previous section, we’re open to any innovative proposal if it meets the following Solution Requirements:

1. It provides an exhaustive list (10-12 items) of constraints preventing existing Cassava varieties from becoming an “ideal” crop on par with sugarcane and maize.
2. It provides a list of genetic interventions, for each identified constraint, capable of overcoming this constraint within a 20-year time frame (mapped against a 5-, 10-, and 20-year time horizon). This list should include specific genetic targets and specific ways of changing these targets in the desirable way. The preference should be given to strategies allowing multiplexed gene editing.
3. It prioritizes the development of traits favouring the seed system development and production increase. Solutions proposing disease resistance or abiotic stress tolerance traits will be considered but given lower priority.
4. It prioritizes genetic interventions that have been tested on modification of other crops used by small farmers (such as yam, sweet potato, and banana).

It’s important to remember that we’re not interested in just a list of targets and interventions. Every item on both lists must be thoroughly justified and supported by the available literature (properly referenced).

At the same time, we’re not going to accept solutions that are:

• Based on technologies unproven by testing in the field, whose practical value is unclear.

Solutions with Technology Readiness Levels (TRLs) 1-3 are invited.

This Prize Challenge has the following features:

1. Your IP Rights are protected; the Gates Foundation must pay you an award to obtain them.
2. The best solution has the opportunity to win the award from $5,000 to $20,000 for meeting several of Solution Requirements as solely determined by the Gates Foundation.
3. Awards will be contingent upon the theoretical evaluation of your proposal by the Gates Foundation against the Solution Requirements.
4. As stated in the Overview, you should seriously consider your willingness to submit a solution in compliance with the Gates Foundation Global Access Statement which can be found here: https://www.gatesfoundation.org/How-We-Work/General-Information/Global-Access-Statement.
5. The Gates Foundation may also issue “Honourable Mention” recognitions for notable submissions that are not selected for monetary awards.
6. The Gates Foundation may wish to partner with the Solver at the conclusion of the Challenge. Please indicate your interest in partnering.

YOUR SUBMISSION

Please login and register your interest, to complete the submission form.

The submitted proposals must be written in English and can include:

1. Participation type – you will first be asked to inform us how you are participating in this challenge, as a Solver (Individual) or Solver (Organization).

2. Solution Level - the Technology Readiness Level (TRL) of your solution.

3. Partnering - there may be an opportunity to partner at the conclusion of this Challenge. Please indicate if partnering is of interest to you.

4. Problem & Opportunity - highlight the innovation in your approach to the Problem, its point of difference, and the specific advantages/benefits this brings (up to 500 words).

5. Solution Overview - Your two lists, detail the features of your solution and how they address the SOLUTION REQUIREMENTS (500 words, there is space to add more in the summary field, and attach supporting data, diagrams, etc).

6. Solution Feasibility – Every item on both lists must be thoroughly justified and supported by the available literature, that will help Gates Foundation evaluate and validate the feasibility of the solution (up to 500 words).

7. Experience - Expertise, use cases and skills you or your organization have in relation to your proposed solution.  (up to 500 words).

8. Solution Risks - any risks you see with your solution and how you would plan for this (up to 500 words).

9. Timeline, capability and costs - describe what you think is required to deliver the solution, estimated time and cost (up to 500 words).

10. Online References - provide links to any publications, articles or press releases of relevance (up to 500 words).

PARTICIPATION GUIDANCE

1. Submission Close Date: Submissions to this Challenge must be received by 11:59 PM (US Eastern Time) on January 12th, 2026.
2. Late submissions: Late submissions will not be considered.
3. Multiple submissions, 3 Maximum: In case of multiple submissions by the same Solver, only 3 submissions – the final 3 submitted – will be considered. Any other submissions will be deleted prior to evaluation.
4. Submission form and attachments: Your submission will be evaluated by the evaluation team first reviewing the information and content you have submitted at the submission form, with attachments used as additional context to your form submission. Submissions relying solely on attachments will receive less attention from the evaluation team.
5. Evaluation notification steps: After the Challenge submission close date, Gates Foundation will review and select the winning ideas/solutions according to the timeline in the Challenge header. Everyone who submits a proposal will be notified about the status of their submissions.
6. Use of AI: Please note that any submissions produced solely with generative AI are not of interest.
7. Learn more: Find out more about participation in Innocentive Challenges.