Cassava plays important roles. It is a famine reserve crop, a staple food for the rural populace and a cash crop for urban consumption. It is a source of industrial raw materials and earns foreign exchange. Unfortunately, the past decades witnessed too much emphasis on the production components of the research industry in Africa. Yesterday, traditional processing offered a low value, poor quality product and used poor storage methods with a low investment drive to restricted consumers. Today, a ...

Tanzania is the fifth largest producer of cassava in Africa, the eighth largest producer in the world with an estimated average yields of about 10.4 t/ha, which is far below the potential yield of the crop. The low yield is caused by a number of factors including susceptibility of commonly grown varieties to major diseases and pests including susceptibility of local varieties to major diseases and pests such as cassava mosaic diseases (CMD), caused principally by East African Cassava Mosaic Virus ...

The performance of 5 promising pre-release hybrid water yam (D. alata) varieties (TDa 98/01166; TDa 98/01176; TDa 98/01168; TDa 99/91169; and TDa 99/00240) evaluated for high and stable yields, pest and disease resistance and desirable food qualities, was determined in 2004 and 2005 in 6 locations in the Nigerian yam belt. The trials were laid out in randomized complete block design in three replications in each location. The results from two year fresh tuber yield and disease severity scores show ...

Though cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz) is a staple for many poor people in Africa, it has major nutritional disadvantages. The tuberous root has very low levels of essential nutrients. Consequently, malnutrition is widespread among the people who depend on as a staple in their diet. Breeding cassava for enhanced nutritional quality and making such biofortified varieties available to endusers could help prevent related deficiencies. This paper presents experiences and progress in the genetic ...

An experiment was conducted over two years (in 2004 and 2005) at the research station of the National Institute of Agricultural Study and Research (INERA) in Mvuazi, Bas-Congo province to determine the incidence of the cassava mosaic disease (CMD) in relation to the source of planting material and its impact on cassava yield. In the first year, two treatments were assessed, (1) healthy cuttings obtained from plots managed with phytosanitation through rouging and, (2) cuttings collected at random ...

In an effort to improve rural farmer’s livelihood, many initiatives have been initiated in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) to link cassava farmers to markets. Several models have been used including use of leading entrepreneurs, targeting farmers’ associations/groups, conducting industrial tests to sensitize and create new markets, use of out-growers scheme and use of farmer-to –trader linkages. These models have been applied for a range of value chains in the cassava industry including starch, high ...

This paper evaluates the impact of an emergency research for development project implemented in the Democratic Republic of Congo from 2000 to 2009 by a various actors including the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture in response to the outbreak of the Cassava Mosaic Disease that threatened the national food security. It applies methods developed in the econometric and statistical treatment effects literature on evaluation of social programs. The study evaluates impact by analyzing ...

Synthetic sex pheromone traps for the legume pod borer, Maruca vitrata (Fabricius) (Lepidoptera: Crambidae), effectively attracted males in cowpea fields at Cotonou (lat. 6°25' N) in southern Benin, where pest incidence is observed throughout the year. However, the same pheromone lures caught very few moths in areas north of latitude 9° N in Benin, Nigeria, and Niger, despite the fact that there were a large number of catches in light trap collections. To clarify the relationship between reproductive ...