The cassava starch value chain has been highly changed over the past ten years in Vietnam. Both small and large firm's developments have been leading to a complex situation where small farming and processing scales are prevailing in the North. Participatory rural appraisal (PRA) and semi-structured interviews in Duong Lieu, Cat Que and Minh Khai (Hoai Duc district, Ha Tay province, Vietnam) have been lead to distinguish between 3 categories of small-sized wet starch processors. Thus, the appraisal has shown the urgent need to reduce the negative impact of cassava processing on the environment. All the stakeholders approve the remaining nuisance caused by liquid waste from cassava processing.