DNA fingerprinting uncovers exactly who and why farmers use improved cassava

by Maria Eliza Villarino | Nov 21, 2017

Cassava production in Colombia’s southwestern Cauca department. Photo by: Neil Palmer / CIAT It was a eureka moment for geneticists at the CIAT gene bank. They found 60 new cassava varieties from samples brought into their lab from Colombia’s Cauca Department....

Where in the world is there a cassava virus? This new app can show you.

by Maria Eliza Villarino | Oct 25, 2017

Symptoms of the disease include short internodes on the stem. Photo by: Georgina Smith / CIAT In Phnom Penh, Cambodia, CIAT lead virologist Wilmer Cuellar stood before Food and Agriculture Organization representatives to confirm the presence and likely spread of...

Strength in diversity: How cassava intercropping benefits the crops, the farmer, and the environment

by Madelline Romero | Oct 20, 2017

Photo by Madelline Romero/CIAT Cassava currently covers 25 million hectares worldwide, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization – more than all the land in the entire United Kingdom. At this huge scale, the impacts of agriculture on the...

Cassava program, a team without borders

by Sylvia Pineda | Sep 12, 2017

The second annual meeting of the cassava program was held at CIAT last Wednesday, 30 August. For the first time, the entire Cassava team from Asia and CIATHQ met here to learn how the research projects are advancing. During the retreat, the leader of the cassava...

Soil fertility and plant health offer clues why cassava entices certain pests

by Maria Eliza Villarino | Sep 6, 2017

Soil makeup and the presence of plant disease may well determine the build-up of pests in cassava, one of Asia’s key food, feed and industrial crops, according to a pair of recently published, peer-reviewed CIAT-led studies. In 2008, a number of invasive mealybugs...