An in-depth film about the impacts of cassava brown streak disease and cassava mosaic disease on cassava production in Tanzania, and scientific efforts to breed resistant varieties using a predictive computational technique called genomic selection. See …
Cassava Brown Streak Disease (CBSD), which is caused by Cassava brown streak virus and Ugandan brown streak virus, interferes with successful cassava propagation in East and Central Africa. The disease is mediated by the interaction of these viruses with the viral genome-linked protein (VPg) and host eukaryotic translation initiation factor …
Researchers in West Africa have stepped up efforts contain a viral disease that could wreck the region’s staple food and condemn millions to hunger. The West African Virus Epidemiology (WAVE) project, a multi-million-dollar scheme funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, aims to shield the region from the advancing …
A new tool to fight cassava diseases using an artificially intelligent machine has been launched.
Nuru, as the device is known, has been developed by the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) in collaboration with the Pennsylvania State University of the United States.
The machine, according to the institute’s official, can accurately …
On May 24, 2018, a few journalists and I visited National Crop Resources Research Institute in Namulonge, located approximately 30 kilometres northeast of Kampala City.
The trip was to assess progress in research that entails developing Genetically Modified (GM) cassava that is resistant to Cassava Brown Streak Disease and Casssava …
Cassava has no defense against a tiny insect that is decimating crops across East Africa, with dire economic and humanitarian consequences.
The whitefly carries two viruses that together destroy over $1 billion worth of cassava in Sub-Saharan Africa each year. Cassava Mosaic Disease (CMD) is the more established threat and does …
The Virus Resistant Cassava for Africa Plus (VIRCA Plus) consortium of American, Nigerian, Ugandan, and Kenyan institutions recently received a five-year, $10.46 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to develop disease-resistant and nutritionally-enhanced cassava varieties to improve the livelihoods and health status of African farm families.
Plant …