Survey of farmers’ knowledge of cassava mosaic disease and their preferences for cassava cultivars in three agro-ecological zones in Benin

Abstract

BackgroundCassava is an important crop in Africa that is widely cultivated for its starchy tuberous root, which constitutes a major source of dietary carbohydrates. Cassava mosaic disease (CMD) is the most devastating disease affecting cassava in Africa and causes enormous losses in yield. In Benin, specifically, cultivars resistant to CMD are not commonly planted, and even when CMD is observed in fields, farmers do not implement control measures, presumably because they lack proper knowledge and training. Our study aimed to evaluate farmers’ knowledge of CMD to determine whether there is consistency between farmers’ criteria for selecting cassava cultivars and the currently CMD-recommended cassava varieties.MethodsWe conducted structured interviews with 369 farmers in 20% of townships in each of three agro-ecological zones in Benin between November 2015 and February 2016. Farmers were selected randomly in each household, and their fields were assessed for CMD incidence and severity.ResultsAll farmers surveyed, representing a broad demographic pool with regard to education level, age group, and years of experience in cassava production, successfully recognized CMD symptoms in photos, but most (98.60%) said they did not know the causes and vectors of the disease. Most farmers (93.51%) reported that they obtain planting material from neighboring fields or their own fields. In total, 52 unique cultivars were identified, of which 3 (5.76%) were preferred based on their yield and precocity and 3 (5.76%) were preferred based on taste or ability for transformation. The assessment of disease incidence and severity showed that the areas most affected by CMD were Comè Township (37.77% of fields affected) and agro-ecological zone VIII (26.33%).ConclusionFarmers already know how to recognize the symptoms of CMD and could implement control measures against it if they are trained by researchers. Across all surveyed areas, we identified six preferred cultivars based on the four most commonly stated preference criteria (precocity, yield, gari, and taste. Our results suggest that farmers will be more likely to use CMD-resistant cultivars and clean plant material if the plants meet their existing preference criteria. We suggest that CMD-resistant cultivars will be embraced only if the recommended cultivars are strategically aligned with the characteristics desirable to the cassava farmers in each region.

Cassava planting material movement and grower behaviour in Zambia: implications for disease management

“…Our work supports numerous previous studies that have shown that culinary properties and taste of planting material is as important, if not more important, in planting material selection than properties of more economic traits such as yield, while the appearance of disease makes little to no difference on choice (Houngue et al 2018; Kombo et al 2012; Njukwe et al 2013; Ntawuruhunga et al 2007). With this in mind, efforts to use clean (and possibly also disease-resistant or tolerant) planting material to control disease epidemics need to address growers’ varietal preferences and needs (Evenson and Gollin 2003; Kiros-Meles and Abang 2008).…”

“…Growers mostly recycle materials from their own fields, attributing this to variety preference as well as the fact that the material is readily available. The preference for recycling is supported by previous studies, which have shown that a majority of planting material is recycled within the same field, while a considerable portion is also exchanged with close friends or family (Chikoti et al 2016; Gnonlonfin et al 2011; Houngue et al 2018; Ntawuruhunga et al 2007; Teeken et al 2018). Although markets, organisations and middle-men are rarely involved in the movement of planting material, the large scale of the distances and quantities of material moved in each of these transactions highlighted by our study does indicate that they could be responsible for the movement of disease across large distances, which previous work has demonstrated could be severely detrimental to disease control (Legg et al 2014; McQuaid et al 2017a; McQuaid et al 2017b).…”

“…Although it has been shown that both CMD and CBSD pandemics depend strongly on the exchange of planting material (McQuaid et al 2017b), and that growers often share their cuttings with friends and family (Houngue et al 2018; Kombo et al 2012; Ntawuruhunga et al 2007; Teeken et al 2018) there is a lack of studies that assess the distances over which this material is moved depending on sources or destinations. Thus, the primary objective of the current study was to obtain insight into the nature of the flow of cassava planting material into and out of the growers’ fields (specifically the volume moved over distance) depending on sources or destinations.…”

Groundnut production constraints and farmers’ trait preferences: a pre-breeding study in Togo

“…In the case of plant breeding, the direct involvement of farmers as an integral part of the process ensures the participation of the most important stakeholders in the breeding activities [ 6 , 7 ]. The objective of almost all the participatory breeding approaches has been to incorporate farmers’ knowledge and preferences into the breeding program in order to develop new varieties that will not be rejected by them [ 8 – 11 ]. Results of PRA studies are exploited in the identification of the parents to be crossed to develop new population for selection.…”

In vitro propagation of three mosaic disease resistant cassava cultivars

“…Cassava is the second staple food crop after maize in Benin Republic with 55% of farmers cultivating it [4]. However, the crop has major production constraints ranging from biotic to abiotic threats.…”