The Crop Crisis Control Project (C3P)
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Cassava Mosaic Virus Disease threatens food security in six East African countries.
The Crop Crisis Control Project (C3P), supported by the Famine Prevention Fund, is a regionally coordinated response to the catastrophic spread of two serious diseases of staple food crops, Cassava Mosaic Virus disease (CMD) and Banana Xanthomonas Wilt (BXW) in six countries of East and Central Africa. Catholic Relief Services (CRS) is implementing the project under the auspices of COMESA and ASARECA. Their largest partner is the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), and together they are leading a network of regional associations and agricultural institutions, national agricultural research organizations, NGOs, and CBOs.
Cassava Mosaic Virus Disease has been recognized in East Africa for more than a century. Rapid spread of a new and more severe strains of the disease were reported in north-central Uganda in the late 1980s. This has since expanded into a ‘pandemic’ over a vast area of East and Central Africa, with devastating effects on cassava production. The zone currently affected now covers all of Uganda, Western Kenya, Southern Sudan, Eastern DRC, North-western Tanzania, all of Burundi and most of Rwanda. 2.6 million hectares are affected, and losses total 22 million metric tons annually.
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Banana Xanthomonas Wilt (BXW) causes early ripening and rotting of fruits.
Banana Wilt is caused by the bacterium Xanthomonas campestris pv. musacearum (Xcm). It was initially reported about 90 years ago in Ethiopia, as a disease of a close relative of the banana called Enset. By 1974, the disease had jumped to bananas in Ethiopia. Then in 2001, outbreaks were reported in Uganda and the DRC. In five years wilt has spread rapidly through all the banana-producing areas of Uganda and into all of the neighboring countries. Surveys organized in 2006 as part of C3P formally identified the disease for the first time in Kenya and Burundi.
C3P is designed to help partners prepare for and mitigate the effects of the two diseases, so that sudden declines in the productivity of these basic staple crops will not tip large numbers of people into food insecurity. IITA, in collaboration with ASARECA’s cassava network EARRNET, has selected varieties resistant to cassava mosaic, and has tested them with farmers in all six countries. C3P is supporting multiplication and innovative voucher mechanisms based on Seed Fairs is help vulnerable farmers to access planting material. There are no resistant varieties or curative sprays for the banana wilt. Nevertheless, its spread can be slowed and losses can be significantly reduced if farmers are trained to recognize the symptoms and apply simple management methods.
Last updated 1/25/2007
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