Cassava disease puts Mara residents in peril

Farmers in Butiama district, Mara region are currently battling against cassava mosaic disease (CMD) and cassava brown streak disease (CBSD) which has affected almost the whole region. Our reporter GERALD KITABU who was in a tour of the regions with Commission for Science and Technology (COSTECH) and Open Forum on Agricultural Biotechnology in Africa (OFAB), Tanzania Chapter, interviewed Kiriba ward extension officer in Butima, David Malima on the effects of the diseases: Excerpts.

 

QUESTION: Briefly tell us about the cassava mosaic and cassava brown streak diseases.

 

ANSWER: The disease is believed to have started in early ’90 although at that particular moment the impact was minimal as compared to the current situation. Considering that cassava is a staple food for people of Kiriba ward and Butiama district as a whole,   the effects are big than one can imagine.  For example Kiriba ward has about 3,299 households and all depend on agriculture to make their living. The diseases have paralyzed individual and family incomes reducing many of them to starvation and hunger. 

 

Some household members have failed to maintain three meals per day. Currently the situation is bad and many poor families take only one meal per day as several others end up taking porridge in the morning and ugali during night. 

 

Today, people of this district are witnessing skyrocketing of food prices than any other period.  For example one sac of cassava flour of 80kg is sold at 50,000/- where as in early 2000’s the same bag was sold at 25,000/-.

 

Maize which is not produced here but produced from somewhere else like Geita region, is now sold at 75,000/- for every sac weighing 100kg.  Before the disease explosion people were not exporting food from other regions

 

Before cassava diseases invaded Kiriba ward, one acre of cassava used to produce up to 3.2 tones equivalent to 40 sacs but now one acre is likely to produce just 240kg equivalent to three sacs.

 

Another effects is that the devastation caused by the diseases is poor living standard because many families live ion hand to mouth economy as a result they cannot afford investing in other income generating projects due to lack of money.

 

The diseases have also compounded the situation due to eruption of frequent different diseases caused by insufficient and unbalanced diet. Some of the diseases includes kwashiorkor and malnutrition in children.Read More