MARI trains experts, farmers in drive to commercialise cassava production

dr Joseph Ndunguru

BY GERALD KITABU

Kilimo Kwanza and Big Results Now (BRN) stand a chance to win the hearts of many farmers in the Lake Zone and donors following the new and comprehensive strategies by Mikocheni Agriculture Research Institute (MARI) aimed at improving agriculture.

MARI is one of the leading
Agriculture Research Institutes under the Ministry of Agriculture, Food Security and Cooperatives and is led by the country's presidential science laureate Dr Joseph Ndunguru.

The plans and strategies aim at stamping out cassava diseases in the Lake Zone, improving productivity to ensure food security through the support of clean seed systems for farmers and building capacity.

The plans and strategies were outlined by the MARI Officer in Charge, Dr Joseph Ndunguru at the weekend in Rorya and Butima during the launch of cassava clean plantlets to farmers.

Dr Ndunguru said that through regional management project of cassava virus diseases funded by Bill and Melinda Gates and DFID, MARI has managed to train a total of 500 farmers and other 300 experts on sustainable production of the new clean cassava plantlets which are free of diseases.

Dr Ndunguru said that MARI has also established eight demo farms in Rorya, Butiama and Mbinga. The farms have the capacity to produce more than 80,000 clean plantlets for each season which would be distributed to hundreds of farmers.

Furthermore, the project is expected to establish other demo-sites in this rain season in the Lake Zone and Bagamoyo so that many farmers whose food and economy have been paralysed by the cassava diseases can benefit from them.

Dr Ndunguru said that the project has also produced and distributed several maps to all the district councils in the zone which show the level and magnitude of the diseases and the virus distribution. 

“We want to ensure you that these new clean plantlets are free of cassava diseases such as cassava mosaic disease (CMD) and cassava brown streak (CBSD),” he said.

He said that the institute through the project will continue to bring together farmers from different districts where the demo sites are taking place to share knowledge and experience on how best they can manage to fight the diseases.

For his part, the training and outreach Assistant Coordinator, Dr Fred Tairo asked farmers to cooperate saying it is only through commitment, determination and hard work that the objectives of the project will bring desired fruits.

“We expect you to help us in training other farmers. We want all farmers to benefit from this project so, I urge you to work hard,” he said.

For his part the National Coordinator for Open Forum on Agricultural Biotechnology (OFAB) which is under the commissioner for Science and Technology (Costech), Philbert Nyinondi, urged the respective district authorities to make sure that they continue to train more farmers so that they can be change agents in their respective villages.

Costech is one of the partners in this project. We have worked with MARI and farmers in different aspects to make sure that the farmers improve cassava productivity and increase food security through supporting clean seed systems.

Earlier during the launch, Butiama District Commissioner Angeline Mabula and Rorya District Administrative Secretary Murumbe Daudi welcomed the interventions by MARI saying all farmers should benefit from the new programmes.

In recent years, the diseases, Cassava Mosaic Disease (CMD) and Cassava Brown Streak Disease (CBSD) have become a serious constraint to sustainable production of cassava in the Lake zone.

During the last decade for example, these plant pathogens have increased in number, distribution and importance and in some villages, they have forced farmers to abandon their fields.

The launch exercise brought together the farmers from Butiama, Rorya, Mbinga districts and attended by the district leaders and the media.

SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN