Mr. Marando Charles who is aged 50 and married with four children is a prominent cassava farmer from Kizimbani village which is also a home for the common Kizimbani Research station situated about 17 KMs off the Western part of Zanzibar town (The stone town). It is within the West A district of Unguja Island. Mr. Marando took advantage of his village playing host to Kizimbani Research Institute to acquire cassava planting materials produced by the institute with the support from CVPP project to start a business of producing and selling of improved cassava planting materials

Mr. Marando owns 5 acres plot where cassava is his major crop. He usually plants cassava in two seasons, during heavy rain season of September - November (Masika) and short rain season; March -May (Vuli). Out of his 5 acre plot farm, almost 4 acres are being planted with cassava crops and the other one is planted with other food crops. Mr Marando primary importance is on cassava roots but also produces cassava for planting materials, where he sells the planting materials to his Commercial Village and the neighboring farmers. He uses family and hired labor for his farming operations and always plants improved cassava variety called Kizimbani because it has good yield and resistance to pest and diseases. Mr. Marando sells his products at his farm. He is happy with the production and income, where normally gets about Tsh 1, 000,000/- and 3,000,000/- per season. 

Mr. Marando used the income from his cassava agri-business to pay school fees for his children, purchased bricks for his house and provide for his family needs. “Thank you for the Research Station being near me, I easily access Kizimbani Variety which is a savior among the cassava varieties that are still available in Zanzibar,” says Marando