Dimbokro, April 21, 2022 (AIP) — The WAVE Regional Center of Excellence trained, on Wednesday, April 20, 2022, in Dimbokro, 250 members of associations of cassava producers in the N'Zi region to fight cassava diseases, during the first stage of a caravan called “Together let's save our cassava”.

Common cassava diseases are mosaic, bacteriosis, anthracnose, bud necrosis, and root rot. Some of these diseases attack the leaves and stems of cassava plants while others attack the tuberous roots.

The participants were trained to recognize the symptoms of certain diseases, in particular mosaics, and made aware of the need to adopt good agricultural practices, in particular by selecting healthy cuttings in the renewal processes of their field.

The representative of the executive director of the center, Ndiaye Adja Aminata, who is also director of communication and development, noted the importance of this training. She said that this campaign is taking place in the 10 Wave countries, saying that cassava processing necessarily involves the control of diseases that “destroy 90 to 100% of production”.

The 3rd Vice President of the Regional Council, Teha Kouassi Venance welcomed the choice of Dimbokro for this first stage of the caravan, saying that N'Zi is an important cassava production area in Côte d'Ivoire. He promised the support of the decentralized community to producers through the identification of suppliers of cuttings.

Participants wanted more training to strengthen their capacity on disease surveillance and good agricultural practices. A participatory game allowed them to share experiences through an opinion poll. The “NURU” application, which allows viruses to be detected in real time, was presented to the entire meeting.