Dar scholar in major discovery after 142yrs

After 142 years of dark days for cassava farmers in Tanzania and the rest of Sub Saharan Africa, finally a local researcher has led East African team to a ‘historic breakthrough’, The Guardian on Sunday can reveal today.

In August, this year, Dr Joseph Nduguru (pictured above) from the Mikocheni Agricultural Research Institute (MARI) and his colleagues from Kenya, Uganda, and South Africa announced their historical discovery of a distinct species (genotype) of the white fly, Bemisia tabaci, which carries the virus that causes two major pests destroying cassava harvests across the region – cassava ‘mosaic’ and ‘brown streak’ viral diseases.

This landmark science breakthrough, whose four-year study was coordinated by Dr Ndunguru, brings a fresh breath of relief to 200 million people who live on a diet of cassava in sub-Saharan Africa – and another 500 million across the third world, the Guardian on Sunday can reveal.

On a larger canvass, the discovery could also spell an end to needless misery from ‘cassava mosaic’ and ‘cassava brown streak’ diseases – both known to have decimated whole crop harvests within a year – and opens opportunities to the region’s scientists to apply state-of-the-art molecular techniques to resolve field problems facing resource-poor farmersContinue reading