Potential mealbug problem in cassava

From: Reinhardt Howeler CIAT-BANGKOK
To: "Jarungsit Limsila" , "Wang Wenquang" , "Wani Hadi Utomo" , "Marjuki" , "Sholihin" , "yudi widodo" , "Wargiono" , "Augustinus Omar Rahmanadi" , "Jonathan Schofield" , "Rod Lefroy" , "Tin Maung Aye" , "Keith Fahrney" , "Lao Thao" , "Thiphavong Boupha" , "Hongthong Phimmasan" , "Viengsavanh Phimphachanvongsod" , "Phoumi Inthapanya" , "Phanthasin Khanthavong" , "Rob Kelly" , "Silinthone Sacklokham" , "Engku Ismail Engku Ahmad" , "Narul Nahar Esa" , "Tan Swee Lian" , "Algerico Mariscal" , "Dioscoro Bolatete Jr." , "Tran Ngoc Ngoan" , "Nguyen Vu Thai" , "Nguyen Thi Hoa Ly" , "Hoang Kim" , "Phuong Nguyen" , "Nguyen Huu Hy" , "Pham Thi Nhan" , "Nam Ho Dai" , "Khanh Ton That Minh" , "Tiago Wandschneider"

Date: Tuesday, 17 February, 2009, 11:32 AM



Dear friends and colleagues:

You may be aware that two insects have been causing serious damage to cassava in Thailand during this past year. One is the spiraling white fly (Aleurodicus disperses), which has long existed in many countries in Asia, on many different crops, but seldom did serious damage to cassava. Last year the infestation was quite severe. Even so, this insect affects mostly the lower leaves and thus has less impact on yield. Spraying insecticides may be counterproductive as it may kill the biological control agents.

The second insect is more worrisome. In many parts of Asia we have had a minor problem in cassava with the striped-mealy bug, Ferrisia virgata, which caused only minor damage. However, late last year and especially during the current dry season in Thailand, there is a serious mealy bug infestation in various parts of the country. Dr. Bellotti, the CIAT cassava entomologist, who visited Thailand in October, suspected that the increased damage was done by one or more new species of mealy bugs, possibly Phenococcus manihoti and/or Phenococcus herrinni, which have also caused serious damage in Africa and Latin America, but have not previously been observed in Asia (including India). Thai entomologists agree that this is probably a new and more dangerous species, and they are trying to identify the exact species and possible biological control agents. Since CIAT/IITA collaboration during the 1980s was very successful in bringing a similar new infestation of P. herrinni in Africa under control, we may consider a similar effort in Asia with the possible introduction of effective biological control agents from Latin America into Asia. But before this is done, we first need to identify the exact species causing the damage and to get some indication of the seriousness of the problem and the extent of its spread. Thus, with this Email, I would like to request everyone to report to the CIAT-Bangkok office any serious or unusual infestations of both the whitefly and mealy bugs (or other insect or disease problems) on cassava in your area.

In addition, since mealy bugs are easily transported on planting material, it is very dangerous to take any stakes or vegetative planting material across borders, especially from Thailand, but even more so from Africa, Latin America or India (where cassava mosaic disease is a serious problem). Since these new insect pests have the potential to devastate the cassava industry in all of Asia, your help and collaboration is essential to bring this problem under control.

With best regards, Reinhardt

Reinhardt Howeler
CIAT, c/o FCRI, Dept. of Agriculture
Chatuchak, Bangkok 10900, Thailand
Office telephone: +66-02579-7551
Office telephone and fax: +66-02940-5541
Mobile phone: +66-089-2005799
Home phone: +66-02960-3839
Email: r.howeler@cgiar.org
ciat-bangkok@cgiar.org



For Vietnam C/c: Dr. Hoang Kim
Faculty of Agronomy, Nong Lam University
Linh Trung Ward, Thu Duc District,
Ho Chi Minh City, VIETNAM
Email: hoangkim_vietnam@yahoo.com
hoangkim@hcmuaf.edu.vn
Mob. + 84. 903 613024

Philippine Ethanol Industry Strong Despite Falling Demand For Oil

AHN-USA, February 19, 2009

Manila, Philippines (AHN) - Despite the downturn in the ethanol industry in the U.S. due to falling demand for oil, the ethanol industry in the Philippines is still pushing through with the operation or construction of production facilities in southern Philippines.

One of the leading players in the industry, San Carlos BioEnergy, started commercial operations of its $52 million (2.5 billion pesos) commercial integrated ethanol distillery and co-generation power plant in mid-January. The facility could produce 125,000 liters of ethanol daily or 30 million liters yearly and generate 8 megawatts of power. The feedstock will come from 400,000 tons of sugar cane sourced from 9,000 hectares of sugar land at San Carlos City in the province of Negros Occidental.

Another major player, Basic Energy, entered into a memorandum of agreement with Canadian firm Nexum Energy, to jointly develop a bioethanol plant in the Philippines. When completed, Basic will have a 200,000 liters daily production capacity using cassava as a feedstock, according to Oscar de Venecia Jr., president of Basic Energy. The company shifted to cassava as feedstock from initial plans to use sugar cane. Aside from the ethanol production, Basic's plant, to be located in Zamboanga del Norte, will generate 8 megawatts of green energy.

A third player, Roxol Energy Corporation, is also putting up a bioethanol plant in La Carlota City, also located in Negros Occidental. The Roxol plant will have a capacity of 10,000 liters per day and is expected to be operational by 2010.

In contrast, ethanol production facilities in the U.S. are facing a difficult time. VeraSun Energy, one of the largest producers of ethanol, suspended the operation of 12 out of 16 facilities, and is selling five of its plants. Aside from VeraSun, 24 out of 180 ethanol plants across the U.S. shuttered plants in the last three months, according to Bob Dinneen, president of the Renewable Fuels Association trade group.

The move has prompted Sen. Jeff Bingaman, chairman of the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, to consider revisiting ethanol production targets set under the country's 2007 energy law.

The financial problems of U.S. ethanol producers was attributed to falling demand for ethanol as pump prices went down below $2 a gallon, spurred by the low demand for oil due to the global recession.

For the Philippine Department of Energy, its Alternative Fuels Program remains one of the five key components of the country's Energy Independence Agenda that aims to attain 60 percent energy self-sufficiency by 2010. Aside from ethanol production, the DOE is pushing for the development of other forms of clean energy such as geothermal, natural gas, liquefied petroleum gas and hydrogen.

Mario Marasigan, director of DOE's Energy Utilization and Management Bureau, confirms the San Carlos operations will be sufficient to meet the 5 percent required biofuel mix with gasoline mandated by the Philippine Biofuels Act of 2006.

Other sectors are supporting the move to give alternative energy sources a push. The Development Bank of the Philippines signed a Memorandum of Understanding with three foreign energy firms to jointly develop viable and renewal energy projects in the Philippines.

Unconfirmed reports said San Carlos will set aside plans to increase ethanol production due to lack of long term contracts from oil companies and instead shift its resources to build a 15 megawatt biomass power plant. Meanwhile, Basic Energy shifted from sugar cane as feedstock to cassava because it could earn also on the side from the sale of cassava chips to animal feed manufacturers in the Philippines.

The adaptability to shift resources and change plans amid a volatile oil demand and turbulent economic times seems to be the reason why the Philippine ethanol industry is surviving better compared to its counterpart in the U.S.

Copyright © 2003 - 2009 AHN - All rights reserved.

Nigeria: 'Super Cassava' to Enter Field Trials

AllAfrica.com - Washington,USA
Aisling Irwin, 19 February 2009

Chicago — An ambitious attempt to bioengineer cassava into a "complete meal" took a step forward last week with the approval of field trials for the plant by Nigeria's National Biosafety Committee.

The genetically modified cassava contains 30 times as much beta-carotene, a precursor of vitamin A, as its normal counterpart. Ultimately it is hoped the cassava will contain increased levels of iron, protein, zinc and vitamin E that will meet the minimum daily allowance in a 500 gram meal.

"This is one of the most ambitious projects ever attempted in a major crop plant," said Richard Sayre of the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center in St Louis, Missouri, who spoke at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, held in Chicago, the United States last week (13 February).

Sayre directs the BioCassava Plus programme, which began in 2005 under the Grand Challenges for Global Health Programme. The challenge is to provide complete nutrition in a single staple crop.

Some 250 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa - and 800 million people globally - rely on cassava as their main source of energy. But it is low in nutrients, vulnerable to plant viruses, and it lasts only two days without processing.

As well as adding extra nutrients, the team has successfully produced varieties with increased virus resistance, decreased amounts of poisonous cyanides - which can remain in cassava if the crop is poorly processed - and a longer shelf life.

"We're transforming it into a staple that will provide complete nutrition," Sayre told SciDev.Net. Laboratory and greenhouse tests have been successful - for example, iron levels were increased ninefold, zinc fourfold and protein fourfold. The next stage is confined field trials - small-scale field trials to evaluate the performance of the crop under stringent conditions.

If those succeed, there will be nutrition trials, first in animals and then in humans. Nigeria's approval is the first it has granted for a GM confined field trial, said Sayre - though the document awaits the signature of the country's environment minister. The Nigerian National Root Crops Research Initiative will oversee the trials.

So far the traits have been introduced individually into plants. The first product with multiple traits is likely to contain just elevated vitamin A, iron and protein as well as virus resistance.

"To add the other four is going to be technologically more challenging," said Sayre.

The team also hopes to begin confined field trials in Kenya, to be overseen by the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute, before the end of 2009.

"We are now in the process of training African scientists in our labs. They are going to learn the technology to make a transgenic cassava plant. They will return and make the final products themselves," said Sayre.

100 cassava flour plants close shop

BusinessDay - Lagos,Nigeria

Policy inconsistency government, and lack of will by government agencies to executive policies and negative attitude of flour millers have caused the shutting down of 100 cassava flour plants across the country. Ayo Olubori, President of National Association of Cassava Processors and Marketers told business Day “Over 100 small and medium entrepreneurs of High Quality Cassava Flours across the country have closed down as a result of these problems. Each of these entities has direct employment of minimum of 20 workers, indirect employment of minimum of 30 workers including peelers, farmers, transporters, among others, who are now out of jobs as a result of non-acceptance of High Quality Cassava Flour by the flour millers”.

Ayo Olubori, accused Nigerian flour millers of killing the 5-10 per cent cassava flour inclusion project. Said he, “While flour millers kill the cassava flour input requirement, the pharmaceutical companies are number one killers of the enforcement of cassava starch in Nigeria ”.

Moreover, it would be recalled that in line with revised prohibition list (trade) 2008-2012, wheat flour under HS codes 1101.0000 can now be imported into Nigeria processed and bagged. This goes to compound the problem further.

Said Olubori, “The Standard Organisation of Nigeria should pick samples from the open markets for analysis. They should stop truncating government policy and frustrating the rural poor who are the majority in the nation’s population with farming as their mainstay.”

Olubori, an engineer, cassava processor and marketer said inconsistency in government policies coupled with lack of will by government agencies to religiously executive policies and other factors were beginning to discourage Nigerians in the Diaspora “who are interested in agriculture” as well as international donor agencies on cassava related activities from Nigeria.

And only recently, the federal government approved the importation of cassava products into the country. Ndoma Agbor, Nigerian Cassava Processors and Marketers Associations’ executive and spokesperson told Business Day, “An extract of the newly revised import prohibition list (trade) which will run from 2008-2012 only recognizes cassava tuber with H.S 0714. 0000 while the other products of cassava such as flour, chips, starch, garri etc could now be legitimately imported into Nigeria . This raises question on the commitment of the Federal Government to 10 per cent cassava inclusion policy and the multiplier effects in the economy in terms of loss of employment that will greet the cassava industry as well as the fate of those who collected loans from banks to either expand farms or expand processing capacities.

He said this policy inconsistency “is life threatening and a move to seek to close the local cassava market throwing into dungeon the labour that is housed by the cassava industry as well as those employed by the Flour Milling industry since importation of finished wheat flour is now supported by the new policy.”

It would be recalled that the Federal Government mandated flour millers in the country to include 10 per cent cassava flour in flour milled for bread baking and other confectionaries effective July 2006. Government later gave 5-10 per cent as the range allowed.

Meanwhile, Flour Millers Association of Nigeria (FMAN) instituted a N500 million Cassava Empowerment Fund as a revolving loan since over two years ago. The fund, which is currently domiciled at the Nigerian Agricultural Credit and Rural Development Bank, is meant to assist cassava farmers in meeting the cassava flour demand of millers which is put at 300.000 metric tonnes per annum.

Millers’ inability to execute the federal government policy on 10 per cent flour inclusion in bread baking and other pastries, which took effect since July, 1, 2006, has been blamed on insufficient cassava flour from the domestic market.

The initiative from FMAN to establish the cassava empowerment fund was borne out of the fear by the millers that their operations might suffer greatly due to the inability of cassava farmers to meet the millers’ demand for cassava flour estimated.
The Empowerment Fund was first managed by the Bank on Industry (BOI) and later transferred to the Nigeria Agricultural Cooperative and Rural Development Bank (NACRDB). The fund is segmented in such a way that N300 million dedicated to cassava processors while N100million is for Cassava Growers. The remaining is earmarked for other cassava activities including research institutions.

Cassava prices nosedive

Written by Thet Sambath and George McLeod
Phnom Penh Post - Phnom Penh,Phnom Penh,Cambodia
Wednesday, 11 February 2009

After many farmers chose last year to switch to cassava production, a price crash means crop has become unprofitable in another hit for agriculture. (A biofuels factory in Kampong Cham that processes cassava. Despite its many uses, cassava demand has dropped this year, Photo by: Michael Hayes).

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Cassava crash

Acreage tripled from 10,000 hectares in 2007 to 30,000 in 2008
Yield 23 tonnes per hectare in Cambodia
Prices have dropped more than threefold from 300 riels per kilo in February 2008 to 90 riels per kilo this month.
Incomes have more than halved this year, said cassava growers.

THE end of the commodities boom has left thousands of Cambodian farmers with vast harvests of cassava on their hands and few buyers, said local authorities and growers.

The sugar-rich root used in ethanol fuel, food products and bioplastics was all the rage last year and tens of thousands of acres were converted to cassava fields.

Cambodia has an ideal climate for growing cassava, and the cash crop has become one of the few agricultural goods whose yields per hectare are on par with neighbouring Thailand and Vietnam, say World Bank figures.

By 2007, three percent of total land in Cambodia was growing cassava, and yields were a promising 23 tonnes per hectare, says a World Bank report.

But falling fuel and commodity prices took their toll on the cassava market, and farmers report prices plumetting from about 300 riels (seven US cents) per kilogram in February 2008 to less than 90 riels this week.

Cassava farmers say they have been left trying to offload an unprofitable crop. "I will make no money this year. I can barely pay for workers and cultivation," said Oy Tun, a 56-year-old cassava farmer in Kamrieng district, Battambang. He said prices have fallen so drastically that he is switching back to corn, even though cassava yields at his farm are a strong 30 tonnes per hectare.

Battambang has been a big cassava supplier for Thailand, and farmer Oy Tun said his earnings are down from more than $5,000 last year to under $2,000 after the latest harvest.

"I am very disappointed with cassava prices this year. They are so low compared to last year," said Oy Tun.

Provincial authorities aggressively promoted biofuel crops, with Kampong Cham and Battambang leading the pack. Battambang alone saw acreage grow from about 10,000 hectares in 2007 to 30,000 in 2008.

But with prices tanking, officials blame global prices and Thai protectionism.

Cheam Chan Saphon, director of the Battambang department of agriculture, said that shipments to Thailand have dropped because buyers are favouring local products.

"The price of cassava is down because the Thai government only allows its businessmen to buy from Thai farmers," said Cheam Chan Saphon.

Even with the gloomy energy market, one local green energy expert said that Cambodia's green energy potential remains strong. "Biofuels are Cambodia's hidden treasure.... With the global economic crisis, a lot of the money that was coming has not materialised. I don't think it is detrimental to the market as a whole," said David Granger, a director of Biodiesel Cambodia.

He said that a strong domestic energy policy would help the country's green energy industry: "This is a country that imports 100 percent of its petroleum, so biofuels have huge potential."

With Thailand building additional bioplastics and ethanol plants, cassava demand from across the border is expected to grow. The outlook for cassava is, therefore, not altogether negative. The crop is used as a feedstock for bioplastic, and global demand is expected to rise by more than seven percent annually, according to figures quoted on Icis, a petrochemicals newswire service.

Thailand is a major regional consumer and demand is expected to hit 300,000 tonnes per year by 2010, according to Thai petroleum giant PTT. The country produces about 25,000 tonnes per year, and even with yields expected to triple in the next three years, Thailand's supply will fall short.

Cassava put to good use as feed

Viet Nam News 09-02-2009

CASSAVANEWS. Ho Chi Minh city - Using cassava as a raw material for making animal feed can help cassava producers and processors cope better with the ongoing economic slowdown, experts say.

The cassava industry this year has shown no sign of recovery because the global recession continues to adversely impact the sale of cassava products, they note.

Cassava prices have sharply fallen to the current level of about VND400 (US$0.02) per kg, one third of last year, while the cultivation area for the root has increased dramatically in recent years, making Viet Nam a leading producer in Asia.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development as well as land and environment management agencies say cassava plantation areas have increased sharply in central coastal and highland provinces.

The Viet Nam Animal Feed Association says that using it as animal feed will not only help farmers sell cassava at higher prices, but will also help the animal husbandry sector deal with a shortage of raw material for animal feed.

Viet Nam had to import soybean and corn meal extract worth $1.62 billion in the first 11months of last year, a year-on-year increase of 56.4 per cent.

The agriculture ministry has asked the local administrations to help cassava farmers out of the difficult situation with prices subsidies and rescheduled loans. — VNS

Cassava: Gabon seeks Nigeria’s help

BusinessDay - Lagos, Nigeria; February 2, 2009.
Nigerian unchallenged world leadership in he production of cassava is paying off with Gabon now tapping into the nation’s cassava resource. Gabon, a West Central African country which has a rich agro ecological zone, plans to develop its cassava industry by tapping planting materials, skills and information from Nigeria, a Gabonese top official has said.

The country intends to improve cassava production, making it a source of income for farmers and a major tool in poverty eradication.

“The Nigerian government has agreed to offer assistance to Gabon by providing planting materials among others. We also see the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) as an important partner in assisting Gabon in this regard,” Francois Banga Eboumi, Gabonese Ambassador to Morocco who is also the Special Adviser to the President of that country said during a courtesy visit to IITA on Tuesday in Ibadan.

In the last 42 years, the Ibadan-based IITA in collaboration with national and international partners has developed and released several cassava varieties in Nigeria and beyond, making Nigeria— for instance—the world’s largest producer of cassava with 45.7million tonnes per annum.

Despite the offer of planting materials to Gabon, Eboumi said his country would want to acquire the skills and capacity to develop the cassava industry on its own. Said he, “We are not only asking for fish, we also want you to teach us how to fish.”
According to him, Gabon would want IITA to build the capacity of Gabonese scientists and also help the country with improved planting materials and information that would increase the yield of cassava and other crops in that country.

Like in every other African nation, cassava plays a significant role as a source of dietary intake for the people of Gabon. Eboumi said there was need to boost production in order to keep pace with the ever increasing demand for the crop.

IITA’s deputy director-general (Support), Lakshmi Menon, pledged the institute’s support in helping the country in realizing its food security goals.
According to her, the institute’s vision is to become a leading research center in finding solutions to hunger and poverty in Africa.

“Therefore I see your request for partnership appropriate,” she said.
She commended the government for taking the initiative, saying that the development of agriculture would have a trickle down effect on farmers by improving cassava productivity and increasing farmers’ incomes.

Dave Watson, IITA’s director of Projects Development and Management, said the partnership was a good starting point. For him, having the government’s interest and an organization like IITA that can easily tap international assistance is a good start”.

Said he, “Africa has complex problems that plague agriculture and people’s lives. We develop agricultural solutions with our partners to tackle hunger and poverty. Our award winning research for development (R4D) is based on focused, authoritative thinking anchored on the development needs of sub-Saharan Africa. We work with partners in Africa and beyond to reduce producer and consumer risks, enhance crop quality and productivity, and generate wealth from agriculture. IITA is an international non-profit R4D organization since 1967, governed by a Board of Trustees, and supported primarily by the CGIAR.”

Nigeria is the world’s largest producer of cassava with a current statistic of 49 million metric tonnes a year (FM AR 2007) which is grown by over 40 million farmers in the country. Cassava is fast becoming a potential engine of growth in many developing countries and exerting a powerful influence on world trade, courtesy of efforts of governments and the private sector in developing unique, value-added, cassava-based products for human consumption and industrial purposes. The federal government of Nigeria and other agencies (National and International) have established various programmes for the development of the cassava agribusinesses. These include, the Presidential Initiative on Cassava, the Cassava Mosaic Disease Prevention Programme (CMD), the Cassava Enterprises Development Programme (CEDP), the Cassava Multiplication Programme (CMP), Root and Tuber Expansion Programme (RTEP) etc., all working in tandem to increase production and processing, and to promote willful consumption of cassava products through increased marketing opportunities’ Policy focus such as increasing duty tariff or total ban on the importation of corn starch and wheat flour plus the 10-20 percent ethanol blenching policy will further create enough stimulation and motivation for farmers to increase cassava production. thus increasing processing and marketing activities to meet the rising demands from households and industries.