Cassava breeds that are resistant to two major viruses could soon be available to farmers in Africa.
Cassava mosaic disease and brown streak disease stunt the growth and rot the roots of crops, respectively.
Mosaic disease alone destroys an estimated 35 million tonnes of African cassava a year - the difference between needing to import food into Africa and achieving food independence, according to researchers at the US-based Donald Danforth Plant Science Center.
The team conducted field trials in Uganda that have shown that genetically engineered (GE) tobacco plants resist mosaic disease. Their results will appear in Molecular Plant Pathology next month (August), Claude Fauquet, lead author of the study and director of cassava research at the centre, told SciDev.Net.
Pending field trials will test the same modification in various cassava breeds selected according to farmers' tastes and local growing conditions in Kenya and Uganda, he said.
The team is also awaiting approval to run field tests on resistance to brown streak disease with collaborators in Kenya, Nigeria and Uganda.
But it could be 2015 before the plants are approved for commercial use, said Fauquet, whose team is building local laboratories and facilities, and training African scientists and technicians to handle the field trials.
Researchers in Kenya and Tanzania are also expecting approval for field trials of cassava breeds resistant to mosaic disease, Morag Ferguson, a plant molecular geneticist at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, Kenya, told SciDev.Net. The team used a non-GE approach by cross-breeding native and wild strains of cassava to achieve resistance in laboratory and greenhouse tests.
Both teams hope for swift approval by the continent's nascent biosafety regulation community, even though many African countries still lack clear biosafety laws.
Ferguson said that successful field trials of disease-resistant cassava could "prompt countries to get their biosafety regulations in place".
Legislators are cautious of GE technology at first but if there is a chance of successfully controlling crop disease they would like to see those solutions applied quickly, Fauquet said.
But Anne Kingiri, a research fellow at the UK Department for International Development's Research into Use Programme, said that the deployment of GE plants is not dependent only on biosafety regulations, nor are the regulations only dependent on the technology - country-specific social and institutional factors also play a role.
"Quicker passage of biosafety laws - which are pertinent for GE technology deployment - will depend on many factors, including honesty and transparency amongst researchers about benefits and potential risks," she said.
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Dear Africans, Are you prepared for the devastating and chaotic long term lost of lives for thousands in Africa? Please, do not buy in to danger path of allowing common men that always making errors redesign any of your foods from it natural form. Africans have live on Natural form and growth of Cassava for thousands of years. Personally, my parents grew cassava and we consumed cassava for years without getting a single illness. Allowing anyone to add a man made chemical or disease killers to your natural foods it unacceptable and devastating. Today, Americans are dying from a lot of foods borne illnesses. Almost every Americans food is spray will chemical or redesigned by men. Over the past years, a lot of Americans have abandoned their Americans foods in favor of Asians foods. Asians fast food or ready to eat food shops can be found in almost every community in America; due to the fact that they are naturally grew and harvested. The foods borne illnesses are causing thousands of Americans their lives including children. Children from the ages of five to twelve year old children (both boys and girls) to grow faster and larger in babies weight causing them to get all types of health conditions; from high blood pressure to heart problem. As a result, American health cast is the highest in the world today. A lot of parents can not afford to pay medical bills for their children forcing the government to pay the bills. The First Lady Michelle Obama has ever got involved in educating children and the parents on solving this problem. She is growing her own none chemical or organic food garden. I believe that what we put in our babies as human, determines how our babies systems from kidneys to hearts work. The most deadly illnesses that kill thousands of Americans yearly are heart, blood, kidneys, and livers illnesses cause by foods processed and redesigned by men. Today, Americans are rejecting any foods sprayed with chemical, processed, or redesigned. Every two to three months, companies are recalling their foods from market places because they are terrify for consumers lawsuits. Americans are buying only what they called organic foods these days. So, Africans let me be frank with you allowing people to mess with your natural foods grew or protection is not a wise idea. To be foods independent all Africans need are (1) To learn about irrigation and put the process into practice (2) The governments supporting farmers (3) Buying big yellow machines and redesigning some of the Africans Landscape only for farming. The amount of foods, work and time it takes five hundreds farmers to make their local community foods independent, it will take only one boozer yellow machine and a John Deer Tractor to do. Africans, you need not to be misled by ordinary men redesigning your natural foods growth and protection. This will have a long term devastating cast that the continent will not be able to bear for generations to come. If any worthy country or individual want to help Africans to be food independent, all he/she need to do is give yellow machines, tractors, irrigation knowledge, and water pumps for the irrigation support system. So, you food poisonous agent out there as the Lord Jesus Christ and Creator watches over us, I warn that you please leave the Africans cassava in the shape and form it is in. Africans are not people that want or prepared to make chemical part of their foods chain. Thanks Odwalu from Bong County
Samuel Odwalu
The Long Team Cast, excess the benefit
Dear Africans, Are you prepared for the devastating and chaotic long term lost of lives for thousands in Africa? Please, do not buy in to danger path of allowing common men that always making errors redesign any of your foods from it natural form. Africans have live on Natural form and growth of Cassava for thousands of years. Personally, my parents grew cassava and we consumed cassava for years without getting a single illness. Allowing anyone to add a man made chemical or disease killers to your natural foods it unacceptable and devastating. Today, Americans are dying from a lot of foods borne illnesses. Almost every Americans food is spray will chemical or redesigned by men. Over the past years, a lot of Americans have abandoned their Americans foods in favor of Asians foods. Asians fast food or ready to eat food shops can be found in almost every community in America; due to the fact that they are naturally grew and harvested. The foods borne illnesses are causing thousands of Americans their lives including children. Children from the ages of five to twelve year old children (both boys and girls) to grow faster and larger in babies weight causing them to get all types of health conditions; from high blood pressure to heart problem. As a result, American health cast is the highest in the world today. A lot of parents can not afford to pay medical bills for their children forcing the government to pay the bills. The First Lady Michelle Obama has ever got involved in educating children and the parents on solving this problem. She is growing her own none chemical or organic food garden. I believe that what we put in our babies as human, determines how our babies systems from kidneys to hearts work. The most deadly illnesses that kill thousands of Americans yearly are heart, blood, kidneys, and livers illnesses cause by foods processed and redesigned by men. Today, Americans are rejecting any foods sprayed with chemical, processed, or redesigned. Every two to three months, companies are recalling their foods from market places because they are terrify for consumers lawsuits. Americans are buying only what they called organic foods these days. So, Africans let me be frank with you allowing people to mess with your natural foods grew or protection is not a wise idea. To be foods independent all Africans need are (1) To learn about irrigation and put the process into practice (2) The governments supporting farmers (3) Buying big yellow machines and redesigning some of the Africans Landscape only for farming. The amount of foods, work and time it takes five hundreds farmers to make their local community foods independent, it will take only one boozer yellow machine and a John Deer Tractor to do. Africans, you need not to be misled by ordinary men redesigning your natural foods growth and protection. This will have a long term devastating cast that the continent will not be able to bear for generations to come. If any worthy country or individual want to help Africans to be food independent, all he/she need to do is give yellow machines, tractors, irrigation knowledge, and water pumps for the irrigation support system. So, you food poisonous agent out there as the Lord Jesus Christ and Creator watches over us, I warn that you please leave the Africans cassava in the shape and form it is in. Africans are not people that want or prepared to make chemical part of their foods chain. Thanks Odwalu from Bong County
Samuel Odwalu
The Long Team Cast, excess the benefit
Dear Africans, Are you prepared for the devastating and chaotic long term lost of lives for thousands in Africa? Please, do not buy in to danger path of allowing common men that always making errors redesign any of your foods from it natural form. Africans have live on Natural form and growth of Cassava for thousands of years. Personally, my parents grew cassava and we consumed cassava for years without getting a single illness. Allowing anyone to add a man made chemical or disease killers to your natural foods it unacceptable and devastating. Today, Americans are dying from a lot of foods borne illnesses. Almost every Americans food is spray will chemical or redesigned by men. Over the past years, a lot of Americans have abandoned their Americans foods in favor of Asians foods. Asians fast food or ready to eat food shops can be found in almost every community in America; due to the fact that they are naturally grew and harvested. The foods borne illnesses are causing thousands of Americans their lives including children. Children from the ages of five to twelve year old children (both boys and girls) to grow faster and larger in babies weight causing them to get all types of health conditions; from high blood pressure to heart problem. As a result, American health cast is the highest in the world today. A lot of parents can not afford to pay medical bills for their children forcing the government to pay the bills. The First Lady Michelle Obama has ever got involved in educating children and the parents on solving this problem. She is growing her own none chemical or organic food garden. I believe that what we put in our babies as human, determines how our babies systems from kidneys to hearts work. The most deadly illnesses that kill thousands of Americans yearly are heart, blood, kidneys, and livers illnesses cause by foods processed and redesigned by men. Today, Americans are rejecting any foods sprayed with chemical, processed, or redesigned. Every two to three months, companies are recalling their foods from market places because they are terrify for consumers lawsuits. Americans are buying only what they called organic foods these days. So, Africans let me be frank with you allowing people to mess with your natural foods grew or protection is not a wise idea. To be foods independent all Africans need are (1) To learn about irrigation and put the process into practice (2) The governments supporting farmers (3) Buying big yellow machines and redesigning some of the Africans Landscape only for farming. The amount of foods, work and time it takes five hundreds farmers to make their local community foods independent, it will take only one boozer yellow machine and a John Deer Tractor to do. Africans, you need not to be misled by ordinary men redesigning your natural foods growth and protection. This will have a long term devastating cast that the continent will not be able to bear for generations to come. If any worthy country or individual want to help Africans to be food independent, all he/she need to do is give yellow machines, tractors, irrigation knowledge, and water pumps for the irrigation support system. So, you food poisonous agent out there as the Lord Jesus Christ and Creator watches over us, I warn that you please leave the Africans cassava in the shape and form it is in. Africans are not people that want or prepared to make chemical part of their foods chain. Thanks Odwalu from Bong County