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From VOA Learning English, |
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this is the Agriculture Report. |
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Cassava is an important crop in some countries. |
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More than 160 million people across Africa |
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depend on the plant for food or to earn money. |
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The continent produces 60 percent of the world's cassava crop. |
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The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization |
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reported last May that cassava production |
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has increased by 60 percent worldwide since 2000. |
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Agricultural experts had been expecting it |
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to grow even more during the next ten years |
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as policy makers begin to understand the crop better, |
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but those expectations have been crashed. |
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The amount of cassava being grown in east and central Africa |
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is falling because of diseases that reduce production. |
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Two such diseases of the cassava brown streak virus |
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and cassava mosaic virus, |
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they are wrecking Africa's agricultural lands. |
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The UN's Food and Agriculture Organization says, |
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brown streak disease does more damage |
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since it affects the root of the crop. |
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Luca Alinovi is the acting director of the FAO |
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in eastern and central Africa. |
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He says the agency has taken steps to improve the situation, |
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but it is not getting better. |
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"Doing right or wrong on cassava has a huge impact |
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on the food security of the people in this region, |
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has such a relevance in our daily lives |
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that we tend to forget it |
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because it appeared in a kind of technical discussion. |
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And I want to bring to your attention that, |
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although it is a technical issue |
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it requires knowledge and requires research." |
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Dominique Davoux heads the European Union Rural Development |
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and Agricultural program in Kenya. |
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He says the cassava diseases have changed over the years, |
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he says there is need to invest in research to fight the diseases. |
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"We supported the cassava initially, |
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stop in the support, |
| [02:42.530]the research slugged [lagged] |
behind, |
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propagated again. |
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We have to re-address the issue." |
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The FAO says at least $100 million is needed. |
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Some of the money would go to support clean farm production, |
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collect information and study the diseases. |
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The rest will go to market and micro-finance development |
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across the cassava production chain. |
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Experts say failure to do so means the cassava disease |
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will likely invade Nigeria, |
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the biggest producer of cassava in Africa. |
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And that's the Agriculture Report from VOA Learning English. |
