Cassava mosaic disease: a review of a threat to cassava production in Zambia.

ABSTRACT: Cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz) is one of the most important root staple crops in Zambia. An estimated 30% of Zambians, over 4 million people, consume cassava as part of their daily diet. Cassava is mostly grown by subsistence farmers on fields of less than 1 ha. Cultivation of cassava is hampered by several biotic constraints, of which cassava mosaic disease (CMD) is currently the most important factor limiting cassava production in Zambia. CMD occurs in all the cassava-growing provinces and accounts for 50% to 70% of yield losses countrywide. Strategies to counter CMD were initiated in the early 1990s and included the release of CMD-resistant cassava cultivars. However, efforts to control CMD are limited because few growers plant these cultivars. More recently, to address the CMD prob

SUBMITTER: Chikoti PC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6951474 | biostudies-literature | 2019

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature