Rural Development, Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness Seminars: At lot at stake - building a sustainable program to address the rapidly evolving cassava disease situation in Southeast Asia . Dr Jonathan Newby
Event Details
- Date:
- Tuesday, 29 October 2019
- Time:
- 12:00 pm - 1:15 pm
- Room:
- S324
- UQ Location:
- Hartley Teakle Building (St Lucia)
- Event category(s):
Event Contact
- Name:
- Dr Dominic Smith
- Phone:
- 52408
- Email:
- d.smith1@uq.edu.au
- Org. Unit:
- Agriculture and Food Sciences
Event Description
- Full Description:
- Throughout Southeast Asia (SEA), cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz) has become an important upland crop in terms of both rural livelihoods and economic development. It is estimated that over 2 million households in mainland Southeast Asia (MSEA) are engaged in cassava production. Cassava production in the majority of MSEA is a commercially oriented activity, with the crop cultivated to meet the rapidly growing regional and global demand for animal feed, starch-based products, ethanol and biofuel. Cassava products (starch and dried chips) are used in many applications, including the production of sweeteners (glucose, sorbitol) MSG, paper, textiles, pharmaceuticals, processed foods, dairy products, ethanol, animal feed, and pet food, to name but a few. Beyond the domestic utilisation, the export of fresh cassava roots, starch and chips amounts to between $3.5-4 billion USD per year for the region. In response to this strong market demand, cassava production has increased in the region with rapid expansion in Cambodia, Lao PDR, and Myanmar.
The University of Queensland and the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) has been working in partnership with national programs in range of production and market context in Southeast Asia to examine the incentives for different value-chain actors to scale sustainable cassava production technologies.
The recent cassava boom has coincided with the emergence and spread of two serious diseases throughout the region. Reported in Thailand in the 1990s, Cassava Witches Broom Disease (CWBD) is now widely distributed in SE Asia, with increasing field level incidence and yield impact. CWBD can cause yield reductions of up to 90%, and affect starch content and quality, thereby affecting root prices due to declining processing efficiency. The second (and most recent arrival) is a member of the cassava mosaic virus family of geminiviruses. Sri Lanka Cassava Mosaic Virus (SLCMV) was first reported in in Cambodia in 2015, and is now present throughout the major producing regions of Cambodia, and southern and central Vietnam, and northeast Thailand.
The expansion of production of cassava has involved significant cross-border trade in planting material (cassava planting stems -referred to as ‘seed’) and raw materials (fresh roots and dry chips) with Vietnam and Thailand. There are strong inter-dependencies between countries for both feedstock and processing capacity, access to export infrastructure, access to new technologies, and foreign investment capital. This has resulted in the rapid spread of disease across national borders and deep into the supply chain.
The management of cassava diseases in SEA requires a well-coordinated and integrated approach. ACIAR has recently commissioned a four year project to establish sustainable solutions to the disease situation, building on the existing knowledge of production and marketing systems. The project includes: 1. transdisciplinary teams and work packages; 2. strong engagement with value chain actors (core actors - farmers, traders, processors, exporters, and supporting - extension, input suppliers, credit etc); and 3. regional scale of the partnerships and networks developed.
There are several opportunities to continue and expand the strategic research partnership between UQ, CIAT and national programs for the benefits of smallholder cassava farmers in Southeast Asia.
Directions to UQ
- Google Map:
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- Directions:
- St Lucia Campus | Gatton campus.
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