Summary of the workshop
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Strategic Meeting of The Global Cassava Partnership for the 21st Century - Bellagio, Italy, May 6 – 10, 2013
Organizers:
Dr. Claude M. Fauquet Director GCP21 CIAT, Apdo. Aereo 6713 Cali, Colombia Cell: 314-477-3973 Email: c.fauquet@cgiar.org Web: hhttp://www.gcp21.org |
Dr. Joe Tohme Director, Agrobiodiversity Research CIAT, Apdo. Aereo 6713 Cali, Colombia Tel: 1 (650) 833-6625-3352 Email: j.tohme@cgiar.org Web: wwww.ciat.cgiar.org/biotechnology/ |
Dr. James Legg Plant Virologist/Vector Entomologist IITA-Tanzania, PO Box 34441, Dar Es Salam, Tanzania Tel: +255 222 700092 Email: j.legg@cgiar.org Web: www.iita.org |
Conference Summary: Cassava mosaic disease (CMD) is present in all cassava growing African countries. CMD is caused by at least 8 different geminiviruses, transmitted by whiteflies and by cuttings from infected plants. At least 45Mt of cassava are lost each year to CMD. A pandemic caused by a new recombinant geminivirus exploded in Uganda in the 90s and for years completely suppressed the cassava production in the region. Cassava brown streak disease (CBSD), first described in 1935, re-appeared in East Africa in 2003, causing a severe epidemic in the whole region, to the point where this disease is now the worst constraint for cassava in East Africa. CBSD is caused by two species of ipomoviruses, also transmitted by whiteflies and by cuttings. CBSD is dramatic because it does not impact the growth of the infected plants but completely compromises the harvest, as all the roots are necrotic. CBSD is a threat for millions of farmers. CMD and CBSD are considered the two worst constraints for cassava in Africa. GCP21, a recognized global organization within the cassava community, declares a war on cassava viruses in Africa. GCP21 will draw a comprehensive plan to halt these constraints and to prevent CBSD from reaching West Africa, the largest cassava region in Africa. This plan will be developed through a conference held at Bellagio in 2013. The outcome of this conference will be a detailed plan established by cassava experts in virology, entomology, breeding, biotechnology and seed systems, with the participation of donors and developers.
Proposal: The proposal
is to gather in Bellagio a number of cassava experts
knowledgeable, who have experience to share with the group,
to put in place a detailed plan to efficiently control
cassava viruses on a large scale in Africa. This has never
before been attempted.
Since the 1930s, when the
first British research group based in East Africa developed
a program of cassava selection for virus control, the main
concept has been to produce cassava cultivars that would be
resistant to one or more viral diseases. This sole approach
was believed to be able to control viruses and eventually
eradicate them from the continent. Although these scientists
were successful in generating resistance against CMD and
CBSD, their efforts remained insufficient to fully control
cassava viruses.
In the 70s, IITA in Nigeria started a new cassava selection
program, aiming again at producing CMD resistant cassava
cultivars. Tough they were successful in producing CMD
resistant cultivars, their action still did not translate in
the eradication of cassava viruses in Africa. Part of the
problem is that virus resistance is not necessarily the
criteria of choice for cassava farmers.
The situation
worsened in the 90s in Uganda, when a CMD pandemic emerged,
gradually invading the whole East African region, then moved
Westward to reach the Congo basin. It was caused by an
unusually large population of whiteflies, the natural vector
of the disease, being associated to the presence of two CMD
viruses. The two viruses involved had a synergistic
detrimental effect on cassava. The pandemic was finally
stopped with the use of cassava cultivars selected by IITA
in Nigeria. Around 2003, the CBSD pandemic started along the
coasts of East Africa. It rapidly invaded the highlands, and
is present almost everywhere in the region today. Again, the
presence of very large populations of whiteflies with the
simultaneous presence of two viruses causing CBSD is
considered responsible for the outbreak. As only tolerant
cultivars are currently available, the pandemic threatens to
continue its course to West Africa.
In the 1930s and 40s, there was a serious successful
attempt in Uganda to eradicate CMD from cassava fields,
through a rigorous regime of phytosanitation (replacing
diseased plants with disease-free plants). Although this
plan was successful, there has never been any serious
attempt to eradicate cassava viruses on a large scale, such
as has been done for other crops like potato as far back as
1945, sweet potato in China in the 80s, and many flowers in
the world in the last four decades. In Africa, breeding for
virus resistance has been considered as the sole method to
curb viruses. This was justified because virus resistance
can be very effective, because there was poor knowledge
about all other aspects involved in a viral epidemy and also
because it is simple to apply. This failure to yet control
cassava viruses after a century of R&D, the growing amount
of information available, and the fear that climate change
will worsen the situation, all call for a comprehensive plan
to reach that goal. This is what GCP21 wants to achieve at
Bellagio in 2013.
Instead of betting on genetic
virus resistance alone, the goal here is to use all
technologies on a large scale to stop the progress of
viruses and ultimately to eradicate them. This approach has
been successful in 1945 on potatoes in Europe, where they
remain practically virus-free nowadays. It took a concerted
effort between scientists, farmers, administrators, policy
makers and politicians to reach less than 5% infected
potatoes in any potato field in 6 European countries. This
still remains the case today.
The group gathered in
Bellagio by GCP21 will count experts who monitor viral
diseases in Africa, cassava virologists, whitefly
entomologists, breeders for virus resistance in cassava,
specialists who engineer virus resistant plants, experts in
climate change, experts in seed systems, as well as
socio-economists knowledgeable about cassava.
We may
be missing other categories of experts such as farmers,
administrators and policy makers. Because this is the first
attempt to establish such a comprehensive plan, we believe
that we should deal with science first, to ensure that all
aspects are covered and developed. In addition, a number of
representatives from donor agencies and large organizations
involved in agricultural development in Africa will be
present, who will be exposed to this plan and who could take
action.
After a number of experts provide an overview
of the situation regarding the control of viruses in Africa
for each discipline involved, a brainstorming session will
follow, with the contribution of each and all. In the end,
when ideas are clearer, the group will split in sub-groups
to write the different parts of the plan, to achieve a
general draft document before leaving Bellagio.
The first expectation from the conference is to form a solid group of people committed to the task, the second one is to agree on a large plan to best control cassava viruses in Africa. Finally, we expect to write down the different elements of the plan, to be in possession of a document to be published and used later on.
The value of this conference will be several folds:
The longer-term outcomes/impacts expected are:
The average yield of cassava in Africa is
10t/Ha, while it is 17t/Ha in Asia. Above 15 t/Ha, a family
has too much food for their own consumption. They can either
plant less cassava or transform the excess into more
valuable products. Viruses in Africa are the worst
limitation to cassava productivity. Removing those viruses
would have an immediate effect on cassava productivity, even
before other constraints, like soil fertility, could have
any impact. Furthermore, CBSD prevents farmers from growing
cassava, depriving them of the best food security crop at
their disposal, especially when drought is increasing,
cassava being drought resistant. Decreasing the impact of
cassava viruses in Africa would directly benefit poor
farmers and the local economy.
Decreasing the impact
of cassava viruses in Africa would have further effects. For
instance, the canopy of healthy plants would be much larger
earlier on, decreasing the burden of weeding for women and
children. The increase in productivity would allow the
development of a small local economy generating jobs,
increasing cash flow for farmers. The increase cash flow for
farmers could enable them to have more input into cassava
and other crops, thus further improving their productivity.
Increase in productivity would allow farmers to diversify
their plantations for fruits and vegetables, thereby
improving the health of poor populations. Excess in cassava
yield could boost animal production, especially poultry and
fish, improving diet and income for poor families.
This approach is not an entirely new concept. It has been
done for several European crops and flowers, though never
yet for cassava in Africa. Some reasons are that Africa is
huge, that it is not easy to work on the continent, and also
that nobody had the necessary confidence to make such a
proposal so far. GCP21, with the support of the world
cassava community, can display this confidence and trust
that progress on this front is possible. We are aware of the
immensity of the task ahead of us, but this will not deter
us from going forward. We believe that only bold vision will
enable breakthroughs in the developing world. Also, we now
have the trust of major donors such as BMGF, who in turn can
rally even more donors worldwide, to access enough resources
and power to achieve success. We are determined to give it a
try at Bellagio in 2013!
Communication Plan: We are planning on some level of communication being done before, during and after the Bellagio meeting. Therefore a communication team (ComTeam) has been assembled to report about the meeting and to interact with journalists.
The team is composed of:
GCP21 | Claude Fauquet - GCP21 - Virologist - Organizer | Joe Tohme - CIAT - biotechno - Organizer |
CRP-RTB | Graham Thiele - CIP - Economist | |
Donor Representatives | Jim Lorenzen - BMGF - Breeder | Ian Barker - SFSA - Virologist |
Jonathan Wadsworth - WB - Agronomist | Larry Beach - USAID - Biotechno | |
Warid Elkhoury - IFAD - Extension | Dougou Keita - AfDB | |
Matthew McMahon - WB - Economist | ||
Virologists | Stephan Winter - DSMZ - Virologist | Lava Kumar - IITA - Virologist |
Joseph Ndunguru - MARI - Virologist | Doug Miano - Nairobi U. - Virologist | |
Mike Thresh - NRI - Epidemiologist | Willmer Cuellar - CIAT - Virologist | |
Entomologists | James Legg - IITA - Entomologist | Peter Sseruwagi - MARI - Entomologist |
Gowda Maruthi - NRI - Entomologist | Dan Gerling - Tel Aviv U. - Entomologist | |
Breeders | Peter Kulakow - IITA - Breeder | Hernan Ceballos - CIAT - Breeder |
Clair Hershey - CIAT - Breeder | Kiddo Mtunda - IRA - Breeder | |
Emmanuel Okogbenin - NRCRI - Breeder | ||
Seed system specialists | Steve Walsh - CRS - Seed system | Jan Helsen - FAO - Seed system |
Phemba Pezo - DRC - Seed system | Pheneas Ntawuruhunga - IITA - Seed system | |
Socio-economist | John Lynam - Consultant - Socio-economist | |
Climate change expert | Andy Jarvis - CIAT - Climate expert | |
Cassava consultant | Eugene Terry - Consultant - Cassava expert | |
Sunday May 5 | Gathering of the attendees in Milan at the Crowne Malpensa Hotel | |
7:30 pm | Group dinner at the hotel | |
Monday May 6 | 7:00 am | Breakfast |
8:30 am | Transportation to Bellagio Center | |
10:30 am | Settling in the rooms at Bellagio Center | |
12:00 pm | Presentation of the meeting; goals and objectives | |
Claude
Fauquet - PDF Joe Tohme - PDF Graham Thiele - PDF David MacMahon - PDF |
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1:00 pm | Lunch | |
2:00 pm | Breeding: Hernan Ceballos - PDF Clair Hershey - PDF Edouard Kandju - PDF Peter Kulakow - PDF Doug Miano - PDF Emmanuel Okogbenin - PDF |
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Viruses: Claude Fauquet - PDF James Legg - PDF Maruthi Gowda - PDF Wilmer Cuellar - PDF |
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7:00 pm | Cocktail & Dinner Sfondrata | |
8:30 pm | Drinks & Open discussion on the eradication of viruses | |
Tuesday May 7 | 8:00 am | Breakfast |
9:00 am | Whiteflies: Dan Gerling - PDF James Legg - PDF Maruthi Gowda - PDF |
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Seed System: Steve Walsh - PDF Jan Helsen - PDF Kiddo Mtunda - PDF Pheneas Ntawuruhunga - PDF |
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Climate change: Andy Jarvis - PDF |
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Donor prospective: Jim Lorrenzen - PDF |
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1:00 pm | Lunch Sfondrata | |
2:00 pm | Brainstorming in breakout groups | |
7:00 pm | Cocktail & Dinner Sfondrata | |
8:30 pm | Drinks & Open discussion on the possible strategies | |
Wednesday May 8 | 8:00 am | Breakfast |
9:00 am | Reports of the breakout groups and discussion | |
1:00 pm | Lunch Sfondrata | |
2:00 pm | Brainstorming in breakout groups second setting | |
7:00 pm | Cocktail & Dinner with the Residents | |
Thursday May 9 | 8:00 am | Breakfast |
9:00 am | Reports of the breakout groups and discussion | |
1:00 pm | Lunch Sfondrata | |
2:00 pm | Plan writing in breakout groups | |
7:00 pm | Cocktail & Dinner Sfondrata | |
8:30 pm | Free evening in Bellagio village | |
Friday May 10 | 8:00 am | Breakfast |
9:00 am | Reports of the breakout groups and discussion | |
10:30 am | Presentation of the PR | |
11:00 am | Close of the meeting | |
11:30 am | Departure from the Bellagio Center | |