Ghana's response plans against cassava viral diseases

The Crops Research Institute (CRI) of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research of Ghana (CSIR) recently held a stakeholder meeting to discuss Ghana's response plan to cassava viral diseases. The meeting aimed to enhance stakeholders' understanding of the health and economic importance of cassava and the viral diseases affecting it, and to adopt measures to eliminate and control them. The meeting was attended by representatives from various organizations including CSIR-CRI, Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO), Plant Protection and Regulatory Services Directorate (PPRSD) of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA), Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), the University of Cape Coast (UCC) and Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST). The response plan includes education of farmers on the symptoms of the viral diseases, promotion of highly resistant cassava crops, and the setting up of an Emergency Operation Centre (ECO) to facilitate a quick response against the viral diseases.