World's Top Cassava Researchers Meet to Address the Challenge of Climate Change

ST. LOUIS, MO, December 04, 2010 (Press-News.org) Co-Founders of the Global Cassava Partnership for the 21st Century Dr. Claude Fauquet, Principal Investigator at the Danforth Plant Science Center and Director of International Laboratory for Tropical Agricultural Biotechnology (ILTAB) in St. Louis, MO and Dr. Joe Tohme of the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) in Cali, Colombia gathered 29 prominent agricultural researchers from 14 countries, representing 17 cassava research institutions in Africa, Asia, Latin America, Europe, and North America for a three day conference at the Rockefeller Foundation Center in Bellagio, Italy, to discuss the impact of climate changes on one of the world's most important security food crops: cassava, a root crop that serves as the third most important source of calories in the tropics, consumed by over 700 million people on a daily basis in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

Experts at the conference explained how climate changes are likely to increase cassava production validating the need for expanding research efforts. New reports suggest that increases in atmospheric CO2 levels could lead to gains in yield and significant increases in the total acres dedicated to planting cassava. In addition, more frequent drought throughout most of Africa will not negatively impact cassava production like maize. Consequently, the land area dedicated to growing cassava is expected to continue to expand in the 21st century, making cassava an essential agricultural component of food security in the decades to come. On the other hand, elevated rainfall in some areas will result in more disease pressure, and increased temperatures will exacerbate insect and mite infestations as well as viral diseases that have a major impact on cassava yield. These critical issues confirm the need for further research and investment in the cassava.

These concerns prompted the meeting of the collaborative effort known as the Global Cassava Partnership for the 21st Century, an informal global community-based organization, to take stock of progress to date of cassava research and to plan for the future in the context of climate change. This network of scientists is dedicated to leveraging the tools of modern biotechnology and plant breeding to make cassava a more productive and resilient crop. The organization was established by Fauquet and Tohme in 2002 when cassava was still considered an 'orphan crop,' neglected by both investors and practitioners of agricultural research.

"It is essential that the international community anticipate the impact of global climatic changes on the cassava crop in order to develop necessary research before problems arise and the Bellagio meeting of the Global Cassava Partnership was the first important step towards this goal," said Fauquet.

As a result of this meeting members of the Partnership agreed to increase coordination of research activities and intensify efforts to develop more productive, resilient, and nutritious cassava varieties for both commercial and resources poor farmers throughout the tropics. To this end, they affirmed their commitment to leverage the potential of new tools in molecular biology to accelerate breeding of improved varieties, including the use of molecular markers to track useful genes, genetic modification, and mining new information offered by the sequencing of the cassava genome. They also affirmed their commitment to capacity building in developing countries and to the further development of these modern technologies as public goods, freely available to all, in compliance with all relevant regulations.

Progress on cassava research was highlighted at the event. Most noteworthy was that the cassava genome sequence was completed at the close of 2009, revealing the crop's genetic code, presenting new possibilities to identify useful genes that can be mobilized to enhance the crop's productivity. Significant new molecular markers have been developed to assist breeders in selecting the best plants generated from the crossing of diverse parents. In addition, researchers have inserted novel genes into cassava to create plants with higher levels of resistance to viruses, protein, pro-vitamin A and key minerals. Conventional breeders in national programs, often with support from groups like the Alliance for the Green Revolution in Africa, are also making progress and delivering new and improved varieties to farmers. In Asia and Southern Brazil, the starch industry has emerged as an important buyer of cassava and an engine for increased production.

The group also focused on present and future threats to cassava production. Cassava brown streak disease - a viral disease that spoils cassava roots - has recently spread throughout East Africa, devastating production. New insect pests have emerged in Asia, and old threats such as mosaic disease and bacterial blight remain problematic, keeping cassava yields at only a fraction of their potential. Several organizations are tackling these important problems, field trials are in place and some solutions are underway but development should be intensified.

Another key outcome was the creation of a working group to structure how the new DNA sequence information can be best organized and made available for breeders to most rapidly improve cassava's performance. Members of the partnership also agreed to establish a new research coordination unit whose task will be to define strategies and coordinate the institutional roles required to maximize efficient application of the new and traditional genetic technologies required to improve the lives of millions of cassava farmers and consumers in the 21st century.

About Cassava
Cassava is cultivated mainly by hundreds of millions of subsistence farmers, often on marginal lands and is vital for both food security and income generation. In Asia and Latin America, cassava serves as livestock feed, an industrial input, and a source of fuel and food. In Africa, it is the second most important source of calories after maize, an inexpensive and essential food for the poor, and an emerging cash crop. Tapioca, yucca, and manioc are other names for cassava. Although Cassava has many properties that make it an important food across 105 countries in the world, it also has many limitations. Cassava lacks protein, vitamins A and E, iron and zinc and is susceptible to many pathogens, particularly in Africa, where one third of the continental harvest is lost each year to viral diseases.

The Global Cassava Partnership (GCP-21)
Founded and chaired by Dr. Claude Fauquet and Dr. Joe Tohme, the GCP-21 is an alliance of the cassava research and development community that are working to identify the major constraints to unlock the productivity potential of cassava. The sequencing of the cassava genome was one of these major constraints, and its establishment will permit the development of many more tools that will be made available for free to the cassava community. These modern tools will provide new tools to breeders and biotechnologists to speed up the improvement of cassava to benefit of hundreds of millions of people in the world.

About The Donald Danforth Plant Science Center
Founded in 1998, the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center is a not-for-profit research institute with a mission to improve the human condition through plant science. Research at the Danforth Center will feed the hungry and improve human health, preserve and renew the environment, and enhance the St. Louis region and Missouri as a world center for plant science. The Center's work is funded through competitive grants and contract revenue from many sources, including the U.S. Department of Energy, National Science Foundation, United States Department of Agriculture, U.S. Agency for International Development and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

The Donald Danforth Plant Science Center invites you to visit its new website, http://www.danforthcenter.org; featuring interactive information on the Center's research, scientists, news and public education outreach. RSS feeds and the brand new "Roots & Shoots" blog allow visitors to keep up to date with Center's current operations and areas of research.