1.65 Million People in Africa Benefit from Cassava’s Comeback

Following years of massive crop losses caused by a devastating virus, farmers from Africa’s Great Lakes Region are once again harvesting healthy cassava, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Cassava is one of Africa’s most important staples, with each person in the region consuming 80 kilograms of the crop per year. So when a virulent strain of the cassava mosaic disease (CMD) decimated harvests in countries such as Burundi, DR Congo, Rwanda and Uganda, consequences were disastrous. In Uganda alone, the disease destroyed 150 000 hectares of cassava.

FAO, in collaboration with the European Commission's Humanitarian Aid department (ECHO), has spearheaded the distribution of virus-free planting materials to some 330,000 smallholders in countries struck by the virus. The UN agency estimates that the improved crop now benefits a total of some 1.65 million people.

Eric Kueneman Chief of FAO's Crop and Grassland Service said “Having cassava back on the table is of major importance, especially to the region's most vulnerable, who have been hit hard by this year's global food crisis.” He added that increasing the production of local crops, such as cassava, is a pillar of FAO's response to the food crisis, which threw an additional 75 million people into poverty in 2007 alone.

Read the complete article at http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/8490/icode/