More than 500,000 clove trees in the Unguja North region of Zanzibar have been affected by an unknown disease hampering the growth of cloves. This situation is causing panic among farmers in Unguja and Pemba as cloves is Zanzibar’s major export crop. The Zanzibar Minister of Trade and Industrial Development, Mr Omar Said Shaaban, is calling for researchers to investigate the disease which causes wilting of clove leaves. Clove farmers report that they started witnessing problems with clove growth in January 2023 already, but did not know what the cause of the problem was, asking for the government to intervene in the situation.