In a bid to boost food security in the country, farmers and extension officers from four states of South South and South East have been trained by the National Root Crops Research Institute (NRCRI) Umudike, Abia State, on how to identify and prevent cassava virus diseases.
The states that benefited from the workshop, which took place at NRCRI under the auspices of the West African Virus Epidemology Project (WAVE), were sponsored by Universite Felix Houphout Boigny Abijan Coite d’Ivorie through funding from Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) and Department of International Development (DFID) of United Kingdom.
The Wave Project country leader in Nigeria, Joseph Onyeka, who is also the head of NRCRI Pathology and Micro Biotechnology Unit, said, “the WAVE Training workshop was aimed at educating farmers on how to select disease-free planting materials in order to reduce the spread of the diseases.”
Also, another training workshop called “Building an Economically Sustainable, Integrated Cassava Seed System in Nigeria,” otherwise known as “Basics” was also held for farmers drawn from the same four states which the NRCRI Director of Farming Systems, Extension and Training, Godwin Asomugha, who equally coordinates BASICS, said that the participants were trained on how to identify Certified Seeds and other root and tuber crops for planting adding that NRCRI had made available latest varieties of disease-tolerant roots and tubers crops.
While speaking during the trainings, NRCRI chief executive director, Julius Okonkwo, said NRCRI was elated by the funding from the BMGF and DFID, adding that so far, not less than 25 projects were being externally funded at NRCRI.
According to him the BMGF funding was targeted at making available disease free plant-able Cassava and seeds, “the target is to control Viruses that attack Cassava, some of which were already in the country like the Cassava Mosaic Disease (CMD).
He however expressed worry over other Viruses that might have come into Nigeria from other African countries which ne described as being more dangerous than CMD.
He noted that the WAVE Project would go a long way to stopping those new Viruses from coming into the country. “Because it will be devastating if they come in hence, if we can’t contain them, and they will adversely affect our production and output.”
On the BASICS project, the Executive Director described it as also very important because it was looking at the quality of Cassava planting materials. “These Viruses cannot be seen by the naked eyes, there is imperative need to screen all plantable materials. If we plant clean/disease-free materials, our crops will grow healthy. But if we plant virus-infected ones, the yield or harvest will be reduced by over 80%”.
He urged farmers to contact Agricultural Development Projects ( ADPs) and Research Institutions on procuring clean and virus-free planting materials stressing that if they comply with the prescriptions of these institutions, only clean healthy seed/materials would be planted and lead to their healthy growth and high yield.
He urged governments to be releasing funds for agricultural research at the appropriate time and not lately in dry season.
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