By John Kamau
Bondo, Kenya
When the cassava mosaic disease hit the western Kenya region in 1995 it
wiped one of the most important food crops in Jane Achieng's family.
Africa's most friendly crop was on its way out.
Like many other households in Kenya's Bondo district whose food security lay
on cassava Achieng had to look elsewhere for survival. "It was a blow to
us", she now says.
Getting the Cassava back to western Kenya farms and restoring food security
in the region is the new challenge facing extension officers in the region -
more so when the mosaic resistant varieties are few and still with limited
players in the field.
First recorded in central Uganda in 1989, the African Mosaic Virus spread
into Kenya in 1995, southern Sudan in 1997, Democratic Republic of Congo and
Tanzania in 1998.
Seven years later for Kenya, returning Cassava to its former status is
demanding concerted effort from many stakeholders, perhaps to the level of
South Africa where cassava is presently utilised for the industrial
production of starch.
"The disease is, beyond doubt, the most important constraint to cassava
production and is threatening food security", admits Johnson Rono, the Bondo
District National Agriculture and Livestock Extension Programme (NALEP)
officer.
With an average rainfall of between 800 mm and 1600mm annually, the Bondo
area cannot sustain the food requirement of its population, as most crops
cannot do well.
"That is why the return of Cassava requires concerted efforts if we are to
sustain food security here", says Rono.
Due to the regions unfavourable weather, local women spend most of the time
looking for water - another problem facing local residents.
"We spend a lot of time searching for water for basic home use. Our shallow
ponds cannot sustain us through the long dry periods. Very few crops can do
well here," says Jane Achieng', a resident in Nyang'oma location.
Getting such a community, blessed with large farms and no water have a
sustainable source of income is a new challenge, more so when the drought
resistant cassava has been wiped out by the mosaic virus.
Focal groups are now being set up in the area with the assistance of the
Swedish International Development Agency (Sida)- funded National
Agricultural Livestock Extension Programme (NALEP) to train local in new and
improved farming practises and help return cassava to its original status
here.
"Through visibility studies, the farmers are offered alternatives that can
be incorporated in the normal crops to help fight the biting poverty and
suffering," says Rono, the local Nalep officer.
Farmers are trained on how to own the problem and the solution.
"The Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) offers an opportunity to look into
the alternatives and give
directions to the future," he adds.
Extension officers in the area admit that the mosaic virus has discouraged
farmers from planting the cassava. Spread by insects the mosaic virus
attacks when the plants are young and is characterised by yellow
colourations on the leafs. All the cuttings from infected plants produce
diseased plants.
For Joseph Ng'ong'a a cassava farmer at Nyambege Focal Area in North Sakwa,
the virus destroyed all he had on his shamba.
"It left my family with almost nothing", he now says as he displays a plant
attacked by the Cassava Stem Rot. "Such a plant cannot bear tubers" he says.
Through Nalep, a number of farmers in the area have been introduced to the
mosaic resistant variety, which is also drought resistant.
This variety was developed by Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI)
in collaboration with the East Africa Regional Root Crops Research Network
(EARRNET) and is still in short supply.
"This variety is immune to the diseases and can equally produce large
roots, which will offer an
escape from biting poverty," observes a Nalep extension officer Tom Ogutu.
The new variety has multiple uses. The young leafs are delicious as
vegetable and are rich in proteins, vitamins and minerals.
"The leaves and roots, if properly processed can, therefore, provide a
balanced diet protecting millions against hunger", says Ogutu.
Experts say that in financial terms, Nyanza Province as a whole is estimated
to be losing Shs 700 million annually due to the relegation of the crop.
Records indicate the province had 298,534 metric tons in 24,470 hectares of
land in 1995, which declined in 1997 to 264, 610 metric tons, a difference
of 33, 928 metric tones. The size of land under the crop was 30, 438
hectares in 1998 but decreased to 24, 376 hectares in 1999. The production
that year was 170, 632 metric tons. Currently, Nyanza has 27,980 hectares
of various new varieties with a production of average of 20 metric tons per
hectare compared to an average of 13 metric per hectare for local varieties.
Experts say that the province could grow 40,000 hectares cassava with a
yield of 20 metric tons per hectare giving an estimated production of
800,000 metric tons of cassava annually.
In an area blessed with large farms Cassava could be grown here for
industrial use. At the moment groups are springing up as farmers learn how
to utilise the land they have.
Agriculturalists say that whereas other crops such as yam, maize, banana and
sorghum are eco-regionally specific, cassava is probably the only crop whose
production cuts across all ecological zones.
"If the present awareness on cassava adoption is sustained by farmers - and
with adequate support- the food situation will soon improve", says Ogutu.
But there is fear that not all farmers will wait until the crop matures with
poor households tempted to cut them to eat. Farmers are being trained to
hold-off eating until there is enough to plant for next season. And it is on
the multiplication of new cassava planting materials that is the new
challenge for Bondo residents and extension workers.
The Food and Agriculture Organisation has embarked on an initiative to have
cassava production increased from the current 160 millions tonnes to nearly
210 million tonnes by 2005 through the Global Cassava Development Strategy.
For Bondo, like anywhere else it will require a series of consultations with
cassava "stakeholders" - including international agencies, NGOs, farmer
organizations, national institutions and the private sector. (Rights

John Kamau

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