Inventory of Cassava Plant Protection and Development Projects in Africa

The need to inventory cassava plant protection and development projects in Africa arose during the planning phase of the CTA/NARO/NRI seminar on “Integrating the Management of Pests, Diseases and Weeds of Cassava in Africa”. The purpose of the inventory was to assemble information on what has already been done on the protection and development of cassava that could serve as reference for future activities and to facilitate communication between institutions working towards the same goal. Questionnaires in French and English were sent to national and international organizations involved in cassava research and development. The questionnaires sought the title of the project, the location, the executing agency, the biodata of the contact person, project address and collaborators, duration of the project, funding agency, project description, objectives and expected outputs. Additional information was assembled from documentation obtained from various organizations and the IITA/PHMD database on similar activities. A total of 303 cassava protection an development projects were identified of which about half are plant protection-oriented. Most activities on cassava protection have been centered on biological control host plant resistance. The least activity has been on chemical control. The applicability of the collected database is discussed and recommendations are made on the conversion of the database into a catalogue.