West Africa battles root crop ‘Ebola’

ABIDJAN, Cote d’Ivoire — Researchers from half a dozen states in West Africa have joined together in a battle against what one expert calls a root crop “Ebola” — a viral disease that could wreck the region’s staple food and condemn millions to hunger.

Their enemy: cassava brown streak disease, a virus that strikes cassava, also called manioc, which in some of the region’s countries is consumed by as many as 80 percent of the population.

The root-rotting disease was first discovered in Tanzania eight decades ago and is steadily moving westward.

“In outbreaks in central Africa, it has wiped out between 90 and 100 percent of cassava production — it’s now heading toward West Africa,” said Justin Pita, in charge of the research program.

“It is a very big threat. It has to be taken very seriously.”

In Uganda, 3,000 people died of hunger in the 1990s after the dreaded disease showed up, striking small farmers in particular.

“You can call it the Ebola of cassava,” said Pita.

The West African Virus Epidemiology project, a multimillion-dollar scheme funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, aims to shield the region from the advancing peril.

Headquartered at Bingerville, on the edges of Cote d’Ivoire’s economic capital Abidjan, it gathers six countries from West Africa — Benin, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire, Nigeria and Togo — as well as the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Much is already known about CBSD — the virus is generally believed to be propagated by an insect called the silver leaf whitefly, and also through cuttings taken from infected plants.

But there remain gaps in knowledge about West Africa’s specific vulnerabilities to the disease.

The scheme will also look at initiatives to help boost yield — a key challenge in a region with surging population growth.

“The current average yield from cassava (in West Africa) is 10 to 12 tons per hectare, but it has the potential to reach 40 tons a hectare,” said Odile Attanasso, Benin’s minister of higher education and scientific research.

“In Asia, they have yields of 22 tons per hectare.”

Cote d’Ivoire is a huge consumer of cassava — the starchy root is typically pulped and fermented and served in a side dish called attieke.