By CHINTU MALAMBO
CASSAVA is one of the most important root crops in Zambia and an estimated 30 per cent of the Country’s over 4 million people consume it as their daily diet. However, cassava farmers are faced with challenges of the cassava mosaic disease (CMD) and Cassava brown streak disease (CBSD) which negatively affect cassava production resulting in low yields. Most recently, the outbreak of these cassava diseases in Chiengi District of Luapula province and Kaputa District of Northern Province have become a source of concern. To tackle the devastating effects of these diseases, the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) has started breeding new varieties of cassava that are resistant. Elizabeth Parker, who is IITA cassava harvest and breeder across the region, announced during a day organised by IITA that the institute was testing and will soon release new varieties which are disease resistant.
“We have four varieties from east Africa brought to us with CBSD resistance but we are still developing them in our pipelines. We have tested some of them in our hotspot of CBSD and the four have been proven reliable, they will be sent for on farm testing and later we can send them for release by the Seed and Certification Institute,” Dr Parkes said.
In addition to pests and diseases, cassava also has a slow multiplication rate: one cassava plant can only produce about 10 stem cuttings per year. This means it takes many years to multiply material, leading to long delays and more risk of re-infection to reach the millions of hectares of cassava.
IITA has developed new technology called the Semi-autotrophic hydronomics Cassava propagation system which allows researchers to produce much more clean planting material faster and cleaner than with the conventional system.
Noah Manda, a research Associate-Cassava breeding mentioned that IITA is breeding cassava that is rich in vitamin A which appear to be yellow in colour.This process is called biofortification and is meant to cover the nutritional asspect of the crop.
Biofortification is said to be a cheaper and more sustainable strategy to address vitamin A deficiency.
“What we are developing is to breed those that are more yellow, in this aspect,we are trying to cover the nutritional aspect because as you know, cassava is low in nutrients. So when we introduce the vitamin A, at least it is being fortified,” Mr Manda said.
In terms of processing ,youth farmers from different districts of the country are trained how to process cassava and make a variety of food stuff out of it. The training is done through an initiative called the Zambia Youth Agriprenuers (ZYA).
Lisa Mwenya from Mwinilunga district in North Western province is a beneficially of the programme has learnt how to process Cassava and make various food stuff like Cassava flour, cassava chips and many more.
The new technologies of cassava will be communicated to the farmer who in this case are the end users of the innovations through various channels, these include field days and extension services.
Among the factors that are encouraging demand for cassava is the popular use of the crop in various industries such as alcohol, textile and energy production among others.
IITA is a renowned research hub and is a non-profit institution that generates agricultural innovations to meet Africa’s most urgent challenges of hunger, malnutrition, poverty, and natural resource degradation. It works with several partners across sub-Saharan Africa to improve livelihoods, enhance food and nutrition security, increase employment, and preserve natural resource integrity.
Research and product development are long term investments in the agricultural sector and field days are a platform for launching innovations and new technologies for dissemination to the farmers for better yields and income. -NAIS
