What it takes to fight cassava brown streak disease

Martin Kigozi, a cassava farmer in Kabuwomero village, Luwero district, wonders whether cassava brown streak disease will ever be eliminated.

He owns a three-acre cassava plantation, but a quarter of the garden is affected by the disease. 

“It has spread to most parts of my garden,” he says.

According to Kigozi, the main sources of the virus that causes cassava brown streak are cassava plants affected by the disease.

He also says the disease is spread by planting infected stem cuttings. The virus is also believed to be spread from plant to plant by insects.

Kigozi says at the moment, there is no known cure for this disease other than adopting control and management measures.

Dr Kidda Makubuya, the district production officer in Luwero, says to control the disease, you can adopt the following measures;

-Identify the common cassava diseases, their symptoms and know the conditions under which they will cause severe losses.

-Select sites with dense vegetation, deep loamy soils and flat or gently sloping land to grow cassava. 

-Improve the soils by using manure, mulching, and intercropping to encourage cassava plants to grow fast and offset the damage by cassava diseases.

-Grow cassava varieties that are resistant to the common cassava diseases in your area.

-Plant stem cuttings from healthy plants without leaf chlorosis, shoot tip die-back, cankers, fungus patches or streaks on the stems.

-After harvest, destroy cassava stems and roots showing any signs of disease. In the control of cassava mosaic disease, select planting material mainly from stem branches; avoid the basal and main stem portions as sources of stem cuttings.

-Plant cassava mainly at the beginning of the wet season. Avoid late planting as some infections are more common off-season.